Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hawks' hands grip tightly against the newspaper, glancing up to the building in front of him he nods. 

"This is the right place. Doesn't look like much though." Hawks trails off, worrying his bottom lip. Has this just been some sort of ploy for human trafficking or something? No, criminals wouldn't be that stupid to pose as some sort of government facility... right? The building before him is only two stories tall and has clearly seen better days. Its alabaster plaster is peeling in some places, revealing maroon brick. Hawks eyes the front door carefully before rereading the job posting again.

Security Officer Needed.

The Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission Inc. is searching for motivated individuals to fill the role of an Armed Security Officer. In this role, you’ll work as a galvanized member of an elite team of security operators protecting some of Japan's most critical- Hawks eyes flicker up from the newspaper and takes in a deep breath. He's already read through the job posting enough to be able to recite it from memory. Without a second's hesitation, he pulls open the door. 

A small and plump woman with a shock of dark green hair pulled into a loose bun, sits behind a large desk and greets him with a warm smile. 

"Hello, how may I help you?" Hawks rolls up the newspaper and offers her his most charming smile. This part is easy, he has enough charisma to out bullshit even the most seasoned con artist in Japan. Talking to this receptionist will be easier than breathing for Hawks. 

"Yes, hello," He looks down to her name tag, "Miss Midoriya, I'm here for the security officer position that was posted in the newspaper." Her eyes brighten and nods.

"Of course, let me gather up some of the required paperwork . Feel free to take a seat anywhere." He shoots her another smile and sits down on a small sofa near a water cooler. The receptionist comes by after a few moments and hands him a large stack of papers and a pen. 

"I know it looks like a lot," She smiles sympathetically, "But it's not too bad. Most of it is just security clearance forms." Hawks nods and begins to fill out the forms. 

She was lying, he reflects some time later. His left hand is aching from so much writing. Inwardly groaning, he reaches for another form. 

It's been an agonizing two weeks and not a peep from the corporation that Hawks applied for. Quickly losing hope, he heads for the door for another day at the temp agency when his phone rings. Hawks scrambles over to it.

"Good morning, is this Mr. Hawks?" A soft and sweet voice asks over the phone and Hawks smiles.

"Hello and yes it is."

"Wonderful, this is Midoriya Inko calling in regards of the application you filled out for our agency." There's a short pause, he can hear the shuffle of papers before she continues, "We would like to schedule an interview with you. What would be a time that works best for you? We have several openings tomorrow in the morning." 

"Let me check my calendar." His calendar is void of anything, "I am free all morning tomorrow." 

"Perfect. I'll put you down for nine in the morning then. Do you have any questions at this time?" He tells her that he does not and they wish each other a good day, hanging up the phone, Hawks' smile is so wide it hurts his cheeks. 

"Good morning, Miss Midoriya!" Hawks waves cheerfully at her and she returns it with a soft giggle, "It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this, it's almost impossible to be in a bad mood." He chirps. They continue with pleasant small talk until she gets a phone call, instantly snapping into professional mode- she jots down some notes on a piece of paper, nodding occasionally into the phone receiver. Hawks takes that as his cue to sit down, he chooses the chair he sat in when he filled out his application and waits for his interview. 

Before Hawks knows it, he's led into an elevator with another office worker and Hawks tries to chat with this overly tired man with an unkempt bun. There's a few soft hums from this one but that's fine, Hawks tells himself. He doubts that this tall and lanky office worker will have any say in his interview, the poor man looks like he wants to just crawl into a sleeping bag and sleep the day away. Hawks hopes that he'll never have eye bags as prominent as this guy's. 

Nonetheless, he stops talking and brushes off unseen dust from his jacket- humming softly to himself. He can feel the gaze from this man and he brushes that off too. The elevator ride is short and when the elevator doors open with a ding, the man steps out and slowly motions for Hawks.

"Follow me." His guide mumbles. Just listening to his quiet murmur makes Hawks want to fall asleep, his complete lack of interest is beginning to bore Hawks. He can only hope that he won't have to see too much of this guy. What a bore, he thinks, life of the party right here. 

Up on the second floor, it's bustling with office workers that type away on keyboards and speaking quietly into their phones. Hawks is glad that he never had the misfortune of getting an office job, he's definitely not the type to sit his life away behind a desk. 

They walk past all of the cubicles and his guide stops at a pair of giant double doors. He knocks on it and opens them. Hawks takes a look around the large room. Bookshelves line one wall of the office and in the center sits a large desk and two chairs facing it. Behind the desk, stands a mountain of a man with his back to them- simply looking out the window.

The man turns around and pulls down at the cuff of his suit. Hawks' first impression of this man is how imposing he is. Dressed in a sharp black suit that probably has to be custom fitted for him- Hawks guesses that this man is easily over six feet and probably pushing close to seven feet. With flaming red hair, there's a large and rather unsightly scar that runs from his hairline all the way down past his lips and cold blue eyes that fixate on Hawks, he instantly knows that this is who he's going to have his interview with. 

"Thank you, Aizawa, you may leave now." His guide curtly nods and both of them and turns, shutting the doors behind him. Hawks can't help but to stare at the large and angry scar that mars the man but quickly looks away when the man's eyebrows knit together and his eyes narrow. Hawks clears his throat and squares back his shoulders, offering him his most charming smile. 

"Good morning, my name is Director Todoroki Enji." Enji sticks out his huge hand and Hawks firmly grasps it in a handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Director Todoroki. I'm Hawks." Enji rubs his chin and peers down at him with a professional muted curiosity.

"Hawks? That's a rather unusual name." Hawks lets out a soft laugh and rubs the back of his neck.

"Yes, well, my parents were rather unusual." 

"I see. Let's get started with your interview." 

Of course Hawks aces the interview with flying colors and by the end of it, he's offered the job. Director Todoroki picks up the phone and asks for Aizawa again, much to Hawks' chagrin. 

"Aizawa will be leading your tour around the facility. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask him." Director Todoroki dismisses them as soon as Aizawa enters the office and once again, he's led into the elevator. He's not sure what to expect, it's only a two level building- so the tour can't take quite long. Until he spies Aizawa hitting a button to the basement. 

"Your job will be rather simple." Hiding a yawn, Aizawa dryly states as the elevator doors open- revealing a pristine white hallway that seems to stretch on forever.

"All you need to do is parole along these corridors twice an hour and immediately notify your superior if there is anything off." Hawks follows Aizawa down a maze of turns and shows him the employee break room, locker room, designated smoking area and the time clock. Past the time clock is a pair of solid metal double doors and Aizawa swipes his name badge over the reader and they hiss open.

"Here is where you will be paroling," the man waves his hand- Hawks suddenly feels tiny before the long stretching maw of the corridor. "You will be working by yourself for most of the time. You will be safe as long as you follow the rules." They don't venture down the corridor and Aizawa looks rather apprehensive about even being down here, that doesn't bode will with Hawks and he wonders what exactly had he found himself in. Nonetheless, the pay is good and he's not going to complain. Aizawa stares down the corridor for a moment longer before turning around and leading him back to the break room.

"You'll be shown exactly what your patrol route entails on your first shift. For now, I want you to study these files and memorize everything that's printed. It may just keep you from making a mortal mistake. I'll be here to take you back up to the lobby once you're done reading over the files." Aizawa pulls out a chair in the corner and stretches before letting his head rest against the table top.

It's a thin stack of papers but they feel leaden in Hawks' hands. This was definitely not how he thought today would go. Nonetheless, a job is a job and he's never been the sort to ask questions and might as well not start now. Sitting down at the table next to Aizawa, he begins to leaf through the files.

20-5-14-11-15

Subject 20-5-14-11-15 is highly hostile and lethal. Under no circumstances it is to be allowed outside of containment cell. Refrain from all eye contact as any acknowledgment towards it will result in only enraging it. Captured at a young age, all sort of rehabilitation has proven futile. If 20-5-14-11-15 escapes, follow emergency lock down procedure and quickly subdue subject at a distance. It is very agile and can disintegrate with just a touch. Bursts of stress and anger amplifies its powers, keep medicated at all costs.

10-9-14

Subject 10-9-14 is inflicted with a double personality ailment. Its hidden form is dangerous and there is no telling when it will shift. Working on rehabilitation, permitted to leave containment cell only for experimental research. While mostly amicable and cooperative, keep a close eye on it. Has been known to talk out of being let out only to unleash its fury. Immediate termination is resulted in letting 10-9-14 out of its cell without prior permission. Only specialists are permitted in its cell and to chaperone it. Under no circumstance, listen to it as its known for lying. If 10-9-14 escapes, follow usual lock down protocol and notify its specialist. Keeping a calm aura is imperative if it escapes.

8-9-13-9-11-15 

Subject 8-9-13-9-11-15 is only permitted to have female handlers, as it's known to lash out against males. Appears to have a mutant string of vampirism where consuming the blood of its victims results in it shape shifting. Acquired after investigating a string of murders, where male victims were completely void of all presence of blood. Receptive to rehabilitation and further studies are needed for researching a potential cure. If 8-9-13-9-11-15 escapes, follow proper protocol and males are heavily advised to leave the immediate area.

"I guess this is why I had to fill out those confidentiality forms." Hawks mutters, he figured he'd only be an entry point guard or something. But this? He's going to have to make sure to bring his A-Game. The files still don't really make sense to him, he's just going to a security officer for a bunch of... monsters? That can't be right though, monsters only exist in horror movies and urban legends.

19-8-21-9-3-8-9

Subject 19-8-21-9-3-8-9 possess a reptile appearance and has been recently captured, still undergoing research. Do not interact, proved to be volatile.

11-21-18-15-7-9-18-9

Subject 11-21-18-15-7-9-18-9 is allowed outside containment cell only for rehabilitation and research. Must be accompanied at all times outside of the cell, has been known to make escape attempts and has breached facility 0413 two previous times. Further research is required, seems to be only made up of mist and can teleport. Has not been known to be either volatile nor lethal, very well spoken and amicable.

20-15-21-25-1

Subject 20-15-21-25-1 is to be never permitted outside of containment cell. All sorts of communication and rehabilitation is proven to be futile. Is thought to not understand human language. Was captured after a demon summoning from local cultists, much is not known about it besides it can manipulate hellfire. Like with Subject 20-5-14-11-15, if it escapes- immediately follow emergency lock down protocol and use the issued silver bullets, all other forms to subdue has been proven as a failure.

Hawks is done reading through the files and loudly clears his throat- waking Aizawa up. A dry eye cracks open and studies him silently.
"Is this-" Hawks waves a hand towards the files resting on the table, "Real?" Aizawa snorts and stands up, taking the files and straightens them out. They leave the break room and enter the elevator.

"As real as you and me."

Hawks is standing back in the lobby and takes in a deep breath, still not quite believing everything he's read. 

"Your first shift will be starting Wednesday night at eleven sharp." Aizawa informs him and heads back to the elevator to presumably go back to his office cubicle. 

"Congratulations on getting the job, Mr. Hawks." Inko speaks once Aizawa leaves and he gives her a small smile.  

"Alright fresh meat. Stick close to me and lemme show you the ropes of this place." A jovial and muscular man meets him at the time clock, he pleasantly introduces himself as Higawara Sajin. Hawks finishes clasping the last of his uniform and brushes it down. 

"Come on, we don't got all night." Sajin tuns about face and strolls down the corridor with a cheery whistle and hands casually thrust into his pockets. Hawks runs to catch up to his trainer. They continue down the quiet corridor, the silence is only broken when Sajin begins to chatter away about nothing and everything. Soon, they arrive at another door and Sajin has Hawks swipe his new badge over the reader and it slides open. Going down this corridor, Sajin quiets down and rests a hand over his utility belt- close to the Minebea 9mm pistol holstered at his side. 

Peering into some of the windows that dot along the corridor, Hawks finds them empty. He finds it odd, but presses forward with Sajin leading the way. They begin to pass a large metal door comprised of various metals mixed together with a series of locking mechanisms and a small window, with different patches of glass melded together, it seems to appear about a foot thick.

There's a thud against the the locked door and the window fogs over instantly. From behind the foggy window, a nearly skeletal hand slaps against it and slides down. 

"Ah, yes. I suppose I should've warned ya about that. I don't really call 'em by their assigned numbers, takes too long. This is 20-5-14-11-15 but I just call him Shigaraki. He likes to scare the newbies. Ain't that right?" The only answer comes out as a low growl as the door shudders from another hit.

"Don't worry about him. He's got a nasty temper but he's all bark and no bite," Sajin pauses, "As long as you don't go poking your nose into his business- he'll stay outta yours. For the most part." He finishes with a shrug noncommittally. 

"He does have some bad days but, who can blame him? I'd always be having a bad day if I looked like him. Yeesh. He's only got a face that a mother could love. Too bad he disintegrated her." His guide laughs and Hawks swallows down his own nervous laughter and reminds himself to stay far away from that door.

They pass another door, this one completely see through with a rather average looking man sitting on a thin cot. His left side is to the door and Hawks can see a small grin. 

"Huh. Don't know how that guy got in there. Wanna go check up on him?" Hawks side glances up at Sajin who nods on encouragingly towards apparently misplaced man in the cell. With a shrug, Hawks takes a couple of steps towards the door- his footsteps echoing down the silent corridor.

Suddenly, the man snaps his attention at Hawks and merely waves.

"Damn." Hawks hears his trainer mutter, "He must be in a good mood today." Hawks pauses and looks back over at Sajin who's frowning at the still waving man.

"Well, anyway. You should probably reread over the files given to you. Boss wasn't lying to you about this being a dangerous job. Ol' 10-9-14, Jin, here is one of the main causes for casualties." Hawks takes a stumbling step backwards, not taking his gaze away from the imprisoned man who is now standing and smiling.

"Him?" He can't help but to ask.

"Oh yes. He must be having a good day today. You never know who you're gonna get with that one, he's pretty tolerable like this but hoo boy. Think of this one as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Hawks finally breaks his focus and looks over at his trainer.

"Who?" The man frowns and rubs his chin.

"Damn kids these days, okay. Look, he's like the Hulk alright?"

"Oh." 

They pass several more doors, Sajin off handily spouting some facts that weren't listed in his files. They've seen three other containment cells, but they were empty. Sajin explains that those subjects are off to research and that Hawks will get to meet them the next night. He's not quite sure if he's excited to meet the other... subjects of the Federal H.E.R.O  Public Safety Commission. As they pass more empty containment cells, Hawks can't help but to feel a sinking feeling of dread. 

"Are there other subjects here?" Sajin looks down and smiles.

"There sure are. We got another night security officer working on the other side of the floor. You'll meet her soon enough, Usagiyama Rumi is in charge of other subjects as well and will also serve as your direct superior during your overnight shifts." 

At the end of the corridor is a thick silver door adorned with inscribed runes and dozens of paper talismans. There are vents that are hooked up to silver cylinders leading up and out of the ceiling. With a closer look, Hawks realizes that it's not silver cylinders but glass with swirling grey smoke that's lazily lofting upwards. His trainer sighs and rubs his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand.

"This one is why we typically don't give this route to the newbies. But- desperate times call for desperate measures." The man turns to face Hawks with a sudden air of seriousness. 

"I want you to listen real close to what I'm about to say. What is in there," He waves towards the smoking vents and silver door, "Is completely feral. It never has good days and has been known to kill guards. The others have as well in the past, but they've mostly learned from their mistakes. This thing though, it's deranged. No amount of teaching it will get it through its thick skull. This creature must never be let out. Ever. If it gets out, you can kiss your ass good bye because you'll be nothing but a burnt crisp. It's dangerous." 

There's a low hiss that slithers out from the door and Hawks nervously glances over at it before back at Sajin. His frown is grim and his eyes are steely.

"We've tried talking to it, but all it does is hiss. There's just no communicating with the thing, shoulda seen what happened to the people who summoned it. Poor souls never stood a chance. Damn kids." He looks like he's about to say more but a couple of scientists push past them and approach the door slowly and cautiously. Sajin looks down at Hawks with a wry smile.

"Look at that, we're just in time for its feeding time." Hawks turns back to the door and can only watch as the scientists scan their fingers on the small pad and the door slowly opens. Immediately the pungent smell of sulfur assaults Hawks' nose and he covers his nose with a disgruntled noise. 

Hawks squints against the flaming sea of bright blue and in the middle stands a hazy figure. Another hiss fills in the silent corridor and this one sinks into Hawks' very being, it burrows into his skin and spreads throughout his veins- chilling him to his very core. He's filled with an animalistic wave of pure fear as the fire dies down and through the hazy smoke he sees a pair of glowing turquoise eyes that seem to bore into him and study his very soul.

Ever so slowly, the smoke clears and Hawks thickly swallows. 

In the middle of the small cell stands a tall creature, his arms are held out on either side and bound in thick silver chains. It's slack enough to let him move around slightly but taunt to the point where he probably won't be able to stretch comfortably. Hawks' eyes travel down his thin mottled purple arms, he notes that they end in long black claws. One of the creature's hand flexes and more glinting of silver catches Hawks' eyes, there seems to be silver embedded into its very being. Hawks isn't sure what to make of that. All he knows is that doesn't seem to be very humane.

Breaking away from its hands, Hawks looks at the rest of the creature. For the most part, it seems to look fairly human besides the unnatural bend of its legs and how its feet end in claws as well. Everywhere he looks, it's pieced together with silver. Hawks also notices that with every small movement, smoke filters up from between the silver in its skin- earning soft hisses from its skin and the thin stream of smoke that filters through the sutures. 

He tells himself that he might as well see what its face looks like too. Hesitantly, he inches his focus up towards its lithe neck and sharp jawline. Its mouth is open and letting out another low hiss, from between its dual colored lips and more silver fastings, lie a row of sharp pointed teeth. Its ears are nearly elfin in shape and Hawks only frowns when the creature moves slightly and he spies more silver that's looped through in its ears. 

Finally, he finds the creature's eyes again. Shrouded behind a thick curtain of black hair is a pair of the bluest eyes Hawks has ever seen in his life. They stay emotionless as they roll from the pair of scientists to Hawks. Narrowing slightly, the creature regards him with a bored disinterest. It moves as far forward as it can- claws slowly clicking against the steaming concrete. Stepping into the light, a glint of midnight black catches his attention and his eyes travel upwards to see a pair of sweeping and spiraling horns that sprout from the creature's head. It cocks its head to the side before letting out a shriek. Its cell instantly ignites into a fury of blue hell fire.

"That, my friend," Sajin claps a firm hand on Hawks' shoulder, "Is, 20-15-21-25-1, Dabi." Its fire dies down again when one of the scientists presses a button and a shock of electrical current runs through the silver chains and weaves through the silver fastings around his body. There's another shriek and Dabi slumps down, breathing heavily. With the demon quelled, the scientists move in and issue him with his food. Dabi disregards the food and looks back up at Hawks and Sajin with a cold blinding fury in his eyes. They linger on Hawks for a long moment before they snap back down to the food in front of him. Sajin lets out a soft grunt.

"Huh, look at that. It seems to take a shining to you, usually it tries to incinerate people it doesn't recognize." Hawks doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. 

From the hatred boiling behind its eyes, he takes it as a very bad thing. 

Chapter Text

Hawks unlocks his apartment door and tiredly trudges to his bed, barely remembering to take off his boots. It was a long night with lots of procedures to remember, he feels like his brain has turned to mush. He flops down on his bed with a heaving sigh and stares up at the ceiling. His light is still on and he groans, of course he would forget to turn it off. 

"Fuck it." Hawks mutters, too exhausted and sore from so much walking to even try to get back out of bed. It doesn't matter if he turns the light off anyway; soon the sun will be rising through his thin curtains and the morning light will be making its presence known. He makes a note to get black out curtains tomorrow morning after his shift. For the time being, he rolls over and puts a pillow over his head and closes his eyes. 

Sleep doesn't come easy though, his listless dreams shift to nightmares of the demon he met. No matter how many times he's startled awake and falls back to sleep- he can't get the accusing glower of Dabi's eyes out of his mind. 

When his alarm rings out through the now darkened apartment, he's been awake for the last three hours. He makes his way to the bathroom and gets ready for another night at his new job. Hawks pauses at the mirror and pokes at the light dark rings hanging close to his eyes.

"Man, I'm going to end up looking like Aizawa." He complains and turns on the shower. 

Stopping by to pick up a coffee at the convenience store next to his apartment, Hawks breathes in the warm aroma and smiles. He may look like he hadn't slept a wink at all but at least the hot cup of coffee will help stave off the cold bite of the spring night. Stepping out of the store, soft hoots of owls fill the air and Hawks appreciates a sense of normality. Last night had been quite the eye opener for him. He used to think that he was pretty well versed in the more darker underbelly of Musutafu but to think that monsters and demons actually exist? That was one curve ball that Hawks hadn't expected at all. 

Making his way to his job, he counts on his fingers how many creatures he's in charge of guarding. Only six, he's still yet to see the remaining three but assumes that he'll probably have that opportunity tonight. Who were the other three? He racks his brain and tries to remember. There's the vampire girl, a body of mist, And a lizard? All he can think of is that somehow his employer captured Godzilla. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised. 

"Wait- that wouldn't make sense though." Hawks shakes his head, the last one's containment cell was too small for Godzilla, maybe only big enough to fit its foot. 

"Damn." Hawks was actually kind of looking forward to being in charge of guarding Godzilla. He's always been an avid fan of those cheesy monster movies. Now that he's actually living the life of being around them nightly, he's not sure what to think. His childhood self would be bursting with excitement at the very thought. Hawks decides to indulge his inner child and allows himself to be excited too. 

After all, it beats working for a temp agency. 

He scans his key card at the front door and it unlocks, he shivers against the cold air of the lobby and draws his jacket closer to himself. All the lights in the lobby are off and he pulls out his phone for his flashlight, making his way to the elevator. 

When he steps out, Hawks is thankful that the basement level is warmer. Two voices float down a hallway where the time clock is at. He follows the voices and is met with Sajin and a female security officer. She stands a good foot shorter than Hawks but there's a strong air of authority that hangs around her. She tilts her head back and lets out a hearty laugh, it booms down the empty hallway. 

"Hawks, this is your supervisor Usagiyama." Sajin greets him with a large smile, Usagiyama turns around and puffs out her chest.

"Good to meet 'cha. Call me Rumi though, I don't have time for all those pleasantries." Rumi waves a dismissive hand and Hawks smiles. Her red eyes are alight with friendliness, her long and shockingly white hair is pulled back into a tight bun with the guard cap resting on top of her head snugly. 

"It's nice to meet you, Rumi. I'm Hawks" She rolls her eyes and jabs a thumb at him, looking pointedly over at Sajin.

"This one is so polite! Hopefully, he'll last." Hawks decides to not dwell on her comment and punches in. Rumi turns left and heads down a different corridor and shouts over her shoulder.

"Radio me if you two need anything." 

"Yeah, yeah." Sajin waves to her and motions Hawks to follow him down their own corridor, "Let's get this show on the road, kid. This is the last shift I got with ya."

"What are you going to do after this?" Hawks looks up to Sajin and he smiles back at Hawks.

"I got offered a promotion to be the day supervising security officer. Won't be as easy at working nights, but, the graveyard shift sucks. Makes it hard to be with my family at times."

"Oh, you got kids?"

"I sure do!" Sajin swells up with pride- pulling out his wallet, "Got two little rugrats at home." He passes a folded up photo to Hawks. Hawks carefully presses the well worn creases out and sees two little kids beaming up at the camera. They're pretty young, if Hawks has to guess the oldest is only about six years old and the other one is around three. There's a large gap in the older girl's smile, poor kid must've lost both of her front teeth at the same time. Both girls look remarkably like Sajin, who's holding up the youngest and the lady who must be his wife is holding the hand of the six year old. It looks like the photo was taken when she was laughing. Hawks can't help but to smile down at the cheery family and hands it back to Sajin.

"You got a beautiful family." Hawks can't think of what else to say but Sajin folds the photo back up with a smile and gently puts it back in his wallet.

"Thanks! Poor kids look like my little mini me's though." Hawks chuckles and nods, "You got a family Hawks?"

"Mm? Oh, no, I don't."

"I see! Living the life of the bachelor! Can't say that I miss those days, my girls are the best things to ever happen to me. You live with your parents?" 

"Nah, they live out of town. It's just me." Hawks doesn't really want to delve into his personal life, telling Sajin that they live far away is better than telling him that Hawks was orphaned at a young age. Fortunately, he has an old photo of his parents. He doesn't remember them at all but it helps to know what they looked like at least. 

"Nothing wrong with that either, just make sure to keep in contact with them." Hawks smiles down at the concrete flooring and nods.

"I talk to them everyday." 

"Good, good." Sajin nods.

They first pass Shigaraki's containment cell, this time it's silent and Hawks is able to peer into the window. 

"Yeah," Sajin speaks up- just about making Hawks jump out of his skin, "From the day time reports, he was pretty wily earlier. Just 'bout damn near broke out. His handler had to give him a pretty big dose of tranquilizer. He must still be knocked out." Sajin tuts disapprovingly. Through the small window, rests a dangerously skinny man on his cot. At first glance, he appears to be dead. There's a shallow rising of his chest, confirming that Shigaraki is still alive. Hawks next notices that instead of two hands like a normal human, Shigaraki appears to have twelve. Spindly arms branch out from his back and they lay loosely around him. Some of his hands seem to be wrapped up in a cloth like material.

Shigaraki turns over and his pale face is gaunt, his closed eyes are slightly sunk into their sockets- giving the appearance that Shigaraki doesn't sleep very often. There are two scars on his face. A long one that spiders over his right eye and a smaller one that stretches over the left side of his mouth- pulling his thin lips into a scowling grimace. A small mole dots the left side of his jaw- starkly standing out against his sallow skin. 

"Told ya, he's not pretty to look at." Sajin has his arms crossed and studies Shigaraki with a scowl.

"You... said that he disintegrated his mother?" Sajin sighs and readjusts his cap.

"Yeah, he's originally from a small village near an abandoned nuclear plant. Maybe all those chemicals fucked him up when the mom was pregnant, but I dunno. Some mumbo jumbo village elder called us in when they ventured out to Shigaraki's house, him and his mom lived on the outskirts. Nobody wanted to see some creepy kid with twelve arms running around. But after not seeing the mom for a good few weeks, they decided to go and investigate. Found this little shit sitting in her ashes, just wailing his lungs out. Surprised they didn't try to kill him, maybe they were just scared shitless. I'd sure as hell be."

"How long has he been here?" Hawks turns back to Shigaraki, who'd turn his back to the window again.

"Well, he's been here longer than I have, that's for sure. I'd have to go over his files again but I wanna say about fifteen years?" 

"Jesus," Hawks shakes his head, "How old is he?" 

"About twenty- give or take. Not like the village kept birth certificates around." Hawks can't help but to feel bad for Shigaraki. Only twenty years old, three years younger than himself. A small part of his mind tells him that it easily could've been him in the containment cell instead of Shigaraki. He suppresses the shudder down and rolls back his shoulders.

"Come on, we still gotta patrol. This ain't a zoo."

Jin's cell is empty, Sajin explains that he's being kept overnight in a different cell for some research.

"What are they going to do?" Sajin thrusts his hands into his pockets and shrugs.

"We're just guards, all of the research is strictly confidential so we don't get told what goes on down there. I can only guess that it's probably going to be some sort of stress test," Sajin pauses, "It's probably best to not ask too many questions. I know that you're new but don't go around asking anyone and everyone questions. A lotta people disappear that way."

"Disappear?" Hawks swallows down a lump in his throat. Sajin claps his hand on Hawks' shoulder.

"Maybe that's a little dramatic. You just get fired." The way Sajin trails off though makes Hawks suspicious that there's something darker that his trainer is hiding but doesn't press the issue further. 

"Hey!" A muffled voice shouts through a window and both Hawks and Sajin turn to see a pretty young woman with blonde hair pulled into two sloppy buns and a wide smile, beckoning at Hawks to come closer. Her top and bottom canines are absurdly sharp and pointed.

"Ah, yup. There's Himiko."

"That's her? She looks like a kid." Maybe not a kid, but certainly high school aged- she can't be any older than seventeen. When he read about having a vampire here, he was expecting something more ominous like someone who looked more like Morticia Addams, not a little bubbly blonde girl. Her amber eyes narrow and she stomps down a foot.

"I can hear you, you know! I'm not a kid!" Hawks doesn't reply nor does Sajin. 

"I always like to have new friends!" Himiko continues, "What's your name?" She smiles serenely at Hawks, he chances a look at Sajin who shrugs.

"She's nosy. She'll find out your name sooner or later, might as well tell her." 

"I'm Hawks." He introduces himself rather unceremoniously. Himiko nods thoughtfully, tapping a finger against her chin.

"Hawks? I think I can remember that," She smiles again, her canines bite into her lip and her eyes seem to glow, "Because I like birds." Hawks raises an eyebrow and nods slowly. 

"Okay." Sajin jerks his head down the corridor and motions him to continue.

"Time for friends, later. Come on." 

"It was nice meeting you, Hawks!" She wildly waves and he gives a small awkward wave back- much to her delight.

"Don't get too chummy with her, she's in here for a reason." Sajin reminds him and Hawks nods. 

"What in the hell is this?" Hawks stares into a pitch black room, some gold and violet swirls around the center of the black mass and Sajin clicks his tongue.

"This is Kurogiri." Hawks watches as the dark mist swirls inwardly and a humanoid being takes form. Smokey gold eyes center themselves on the otherwise blank face and they blink slowly at Hawks. Kurogiri politely nods at the duo before he begins to distort again.

"He's not much of a talker but he's more pleasant to be around than some of the others down here. Before he escaped, he'd sometimes play poker with me- that was back when protocol here was more relaxed, way before Director Todoroki took over. But," Sajin trails off for a second- rubbing the back of his neck, "After his second escape, they amped up his dosage and half the time I don't even know if he knows where he's at anymore. Guy can't even keep a solid form anymore." Hawks frowns at this. It seems the more he learns about this place, the less he likes it. It's only his second night here but the treatment of all of these beings doesn't settle right with Hawks. 

"Huh." He doesn't trust himself to say anymore, lest he begins to spout how unfair everything is. Sajin only nods sadly and hums.

"It's for everyone's safety though." He seems to have read Hawks' mind.

"You gotta remember that everything in these cells are a danger to society and have been known to kill both workers in here and civilians out there. There's a reason why our company even exists and it's to keep these guys from causing anymore innocent deaths. It's best to remember that." 

"I will." 

"Good. Now the only one left for you to meet is our newest addition." 

"I was expecting a little more," Hawks pauses and disappointingly stares into the cell, "I dunno, impressive?" Sajin laughs.

"What? Were you thinking that we were gonna have Godzilla or something?"

"No." There's no way that he's going to admit to his trainer that he had indeed been hoping for Godzilla, "I didn't know that Argonians really existed though."

"A what?" Sajin looks down at Hawks with a confused expression and Hawks shakes his head, hiding an embarrassed smile. 

"Oh, it's from a video game where you can play as a race of reptiles. He looks like one of them." True enough, Hawks is met with an inquisitive pink gaze of the creature in the containment cell. Well, he looks close enough to an Argonian if he didn't have a head full of obnoxiously pink hair. His green scales glint off of the lights in his cell and the lizard tilts his head.

"You play?" When he speaks, he startles both Hawks and Sajin. 

"Look at that, I didn't know that this guy could even speak." The lizard's eyes dart from Hawks and over to Sajin with distaste.

"Of course I can talk," He turns his attention back to Hawks, "What do you play as?" Never in a thousand years had Hawks thought that he would be talking to a bipedal lizard about The Elder Scrolls series. Nonetheless, he can't help but to feel a small smile to have the chance to talk about one of his favorite game series.

"Wood elf." The lizard shakes his head and sits down on the cot with disappointment.

"Lame." 

"I married an Argonian though." The lizard barks out a laugh, his voice is raspy and he slaps a hand against his knee.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, then he died in a fire though." The lizard shrugs at this.

"Eh, shit happens I guess. Anyway, instead of calling me an Argonian or Godzilla or some other rude shit- just call me Spinner." Sajin pulls out a notepad and jots a few sentences down. He keeps it facing away from Hawks so he has no idea what Sajin is even writing but he tells himself not to worry about that. 

"Sounds good, you can call me Hawks." 

"Guess I can do that." Spinner smiles, his teeth are narrow and pointed, almost reminding Hawks of a gharial, "See ya around, Hawks." Hawks starts walking down to the last containment cell but finds that he's alone; turning around he sees Sajin studying him with an unreadable expression. 

"Very interesting." He hears Sajin mutter under his breath before quickly putting on a smile. 

"Sorry about that, just had to write down that, uh, Spinner does indeed have the ability to talk. His handler will be excited to hear that." Sajin's smile doesn't reach his eyes and Hawks nods, turning to continue down the corridor- letting Sajin catch up with him.

Dabi's cell is void of all hissing and shrieking, a contrasting difference from last night. There's no smoke wafting up the glass cylinders either. Instead, there's a low hum that thrums around the cell and Hawks shifts nervously. 

"Something up?" Sajin watches Hawks with a close eye and Hawks doesn't ask if Sajin can hear the humming. He's beginning to feel like he's being watched just as closely as the creatures behind their bullet proof glasses and solid metal doors.

"Just hungry, forgot to eat before my shift." Some of the tense atmosphere lets up and Sajin nods sagely.

"Eating is important."

"Yeah," Hawks chuckles, "I know, I was little behind schedule tonight and it totally slipped my mind." That seems to satisfy his trainer and Hawks exhales with relief.

"Well, it looks like Dabi here is behaving for once. Let's take a quick lunch and then off to the view the cameras." Sajin turns around and marches back down from where they came from. As Hawks turns to follow, he can swear that he has the distinct feeling of eyes studying him. The deep humming swells louder and then falls silent. 

Hawks makes a beeline towards the vending machine and snags an energy bar. An arm slings over Hawks shoulder, startling him.

"Forgot your lunch too?" Rumi grins up at him and Hawks nods. 

"Yeah, was in a rush tonight." 

"Shit, me too. Just couldn't get up tonight, my bed was too warm. I'm telling you, Hawks, the struggle is real." Rumi complains. Hawks ducks out from under her arm and she hops in front of the vending machine- debating over what to buy. Hawks takes a seat next to Sajin who happily eating out of a homemade bento box.

"This is what I'm talking about Hawks, my wife and daughters made this for me." Rumi flops down next to Hawks and sticks her tongue out at Sajin.

"Brag about it, why dontcha? Not all us are lucky to be married, ain't that right, Hawks?" Hawks agrees and tears open the energy bar, eating it in three huge bites.

"Damn dude, don't forget to breathe." Rumi laughs before taking a giant bite of her own lunch. She chokes on her lunch, slapping a tanned hand against her chest she inhales sharply, "Guess I should take my own advice. I swear, my life just flashed before my eyes." Sajin snickers and shakes his head.

"Man, I'm gonna miss having lunch with you, Rumi. It just won't be the same without you." Rumi shoves a hand across Hawks' face and points accusingly at Sajin.

"And whose fault is that, mister?" They continue to bicker and Hawks joins in with their laughter. Forgetting about the nearly suspicious gaze from Sajin earlier. 

Sajin sits down at the lone seat in the camera room and Hawks stands behind him, he gives a low whistle when he sees just how clear the quality is. Much to his surprise, there's even a camera in Dabi's containment cell.

"How does he not fry that thing?" Hawks motions towards the sixth screen and Sajin whirls around in the chair with a large grin.

"Our Prime Minister privately funds everything here so we get top of the notch technology. Apparently that includes fire proof cameras." Sajin explains, Hawks hums softly and studies each of the monitors.

Shigaraki seems to finally be stirring awake, albeit slowly and rather sluggishly- Hawks bites down laughter that bubbles up when he sees Shigaraki roll off of the cot and onto the floor. Jin's is still empty, only the dancing particles of dust move around in his cell. Himiko is sitting on her cot, slowly swaying her head back and forth and seems to be singing to herself. Kurogiri's screen just shows the black mist that swirls with color- reminding him of the dust motes in Jin's cell. Spinner has an arm thrown over his face and is still, save for the steady rising and falling of his chest. Meanwhile, on screen six, Dabi is still shackled by the silver chains extending down from the ceiling. He doesn't have any fire summoned and is instead staring straight up into the camera, Hawks feels like Dabi's gaze is boring straight into his skull. 

"Everything seems to be in order. Quiet shift, I like it." Sajin cheerfully speaks and takes out a book, "So, we got a bit of down time. You're going to have a lot of that on this shift. I recommend bringing a book to keep yourself occupied, if you start to feel tired, there's a coffee machine over there." He points to a small table with a coffee maker in the corner.

They fall silent and Hawks watches the screens with curiosity. Nobody is doing much but it beats staring at the ground for the next hour. Earlier, he tried to count the silver sutures in Dabi's skin but gave up after he reached one hundred. He'll definitely have to bring something tomorrow night, he feels like he's about to go stir crazy. 

Sajin finally breaks the silence, turning around to face Hawks.

"Alright, wanna do this patrol by yourself?" Hawks doesn't need to be asked twice and is already heading out towards the door, excited to be able to do something else.

He takes his time walking down the brightly lit corridor, there's no need to rush. Hawks would really rather be out here than cooped up in a small room that's over heating from all of the monitors. 

Hawks pauses at Shigaraki's door and looks into the window, the man is finally standing and peers over his shoulder to glower at Hawks. Thick greasy blue hair hangs in strands- shrouding most of Shigaraki's face but he can still see the scar on his mouth. Hawks smiles at him and holds up his hands.

"Just checking up on you. Glad to see you're up and moving again." Shigaraki starts towards the window and Hawks takes a step back.

"Hey now, I'm not here to cause trouble. Calm down there." Shigaraki stands as close to the window as he can get and ruby red eyes scowl from behind his hair. They say nothing and Shigaraki lets out a huff.

"There you go, see? We can all be friends." Shigaraki merely growls and doesn't move from the window. 

"Cool, cool. I gotta get moving now. See you later." Shigaraki stays quiet but narrows his eyes as Hawks presses further into the corridor.

He strolls past Jin's cell and pauses only when he reaches the front of Himiko's. She looks up from her hands and cheerfully waves at him. Shigaraki may not be interested in chatting but he supposes that Himiko will always be up to talk the night away. She's already going on about something and when he was spacing off- she moved closer to the window. Politely, he nods along to what ever she's going on about. After a few minutes he lets her know that he has to continue on his route and she visibly pouts at this.

"They always leave." Hawks hears her grumble as she climbs back up to her cot, making her annoyance known to him by turning her back to Hawks. He chuckles and continues on.

Trying to talk to Kurogiri is like trying to talk to a body of fog. He gives up after he begins to feel stupid just talking to himself. As he turns, he does catch Kurogiri try to form again but quickly dissipates back to being formless. 

Spinner is still sleeping, much to Hawks disappointment. He actually enjoyed their short conversation earlier with him and was hoping to find out what other games he had played before getting caught. Regardless, he steps onward. Not wanting to appear too suspicious to Sajin who's most likely studying the screens. 

Finally, he arrives at Dabi's cell. As he steps closer to examine the paper talismans that hang above the door, he hears the humming again. Hawks pauses mid step and tilts his head to the side, it feels like words are trying to form from the deep humming but it's hard to decipher what's being said. It's like being submerged in a body of water and trying to listen to people speak from outside of the water. He knows that Sajin hadn't heard the humming from earlier, otherwise he would've said something. 

"Just what are you?" He can't keep himself from asking the silver door. Suddenly the humming stops and for a moment, the only noise is Hawks' own heart that thunders against his chest. He grits his teeth, his head feels like it's about to explode and the humming increases tenfold before slowly forming into words that tether themselves into his mind.

"I am the keeper. I am the secret. I am the answer. I am... the end." The demon's rumbling voice is low and shakes Hawks to his very core. He takes a step backwards and another. Dabi doesn't speak anymore and his droning hums fall quiet. 

Before going back to the camera room, Hawks enters the bathroom. He halts when he catches his reflection. His face is pale and eyes are wide with shock. What concerns him the most though is the dried blood that had crusted below a nostril. He touches the blood and shakes his head.

"What the fuck?" Hawks quickly washes up and prays that his nose won't start bleeding again. 

Sajin is quiet and turns a page of his book when Hawks walks in, he barely looks up from the book.

"Everything go okay?"

"Yep." Is all Hawks can manage, he reaches for a coffee mug and flicks on the coffee machine.

"Good." 

"What a night." Hawks talks to himself as he sits down on his sofa, resting his forehead against the palms of his hands. The rest of his shift passed by rather slowly and Sajin let Hawks do most of the patrolling by himself. Whatever Dabi had done on his first patrol by himself was extremely unnerving and thankfully, the demon had stayed quiet for the rest of the night. Every time he went back to the camera room though, he could feel the steady and unblinking gaze from the demon. 

He slowly peels himself away from the sofa and heads towards his shower, a steaming hot shower always helped him sort out his thoughts and he feels like he's going to be taking a lot of boiling hot showers in the future from this job.

Hawks doesn't bother with properly drying his hair and dives into his bed. Only then, when he's curled up in a warm blanket burrito- he remembers that he forgot to buy black out curtains. 

Chapter Text

He's back in the facility and is doing his normal patrol route. It doesn't feel normal though, there's an icy feeling spreading through his body and he feels like he doesn't have any control over his body as it takes slow and steady steps towards the last containment cell at the end of the stretching hallway. He passes a few scientists but pays them no mind- even when they try to stop him, asking what's wrong. 

He wants nothing more than to scream for help, but he's a prisoner in his own body and the only thing that he can control is his panicked thoughts that race through his mind at a thousand miles per minute. 

Step by agonizingly slow step, he weaves his way closer and closer. He's lulled by the familiar low humming, telling him to approach. For just a heartbeat, he pauses in front of the looming silver doors until the humming grows so loud that he feels warm blood trickle down from his ears. Its rumbling hums serves as his own siren's song, singing tales of all the riches and power that he could ever ask for

"Open it." As much as he wants to fight against the command, it's useless. He can only watch in horror as his robotic stiff hands move on their own accord. There's a group of scientists rushing down the corridor towards him- they're shouting something but their muffled words only meld together in confusing sounds. There is only one voice that he will listen to, and the owner of it stands behind its own prison before him.

One by one the paper talismans fall to the ground like decaying cherry blossoms and they scatter around his feet. As the last one falls, a crack appears in the silver door. Soon, it's joined by other hairline fractures. There's a massive thud that echoes down the corridor and its after shock throws the scientists back against the wall, faintly he recognizes the sound of crunching bones and pained cries. Finally, the metal door screeches as it crumbles into itself, and there stands the demon. It beckons him closer still and motions at the silver shackles. He nods, understanding what must be done.

Its cell is so unbelievably hot and he feels like his skin must be melting off from his bones, still, he makes his way closer towards the demon.

There's more shouts behind him and a thundering pair of footsteps. Time seems to slow down when he hears the familiar click of a gun with its safety being switched off. A blur of silver whizzes past his ear and lodges itself into the demon's chest. There's an enraged roar and before he knows it, all he can see is blue. 

Blinding and furious blue flames erupt in the cell and then, he's no more. 

There is no body, just ash. He's naught but a small floating spirit that still continues towards the demon. Instead of reaching for the chains though, he's drawn into Dabi's stretching maw and is swallowed whole. His last memory is that of the folded up and now cremated photo in his wallet before he dissolves into nothing. 

A stillness overtakes Hawks' apartment and he startles awake- shooting up in bed. Grasping at his chest, he takes in heaving gulps of stale air. Shaking hands finger through his knotted hair and Hawks steadies his breathing. 

"It was just a dream." Hawks reminds himself. It still felt so real though, too real for comfort. He swipes away the sweat that's beading on his forehead and swings his legs over the bed. Unsteady on his legs, Hawks slowly steps over a pile of discarded laundry and enters his bathroom. 

His reflection greets him with another bloody nose. 

He has the next two nights off and Hawks orders cheap take out, not in the mood for cooking. He can't stop thinking about the nightmare. He sits in the corner of the small restaurant. Sometimes, Hawks catches himself staring at his reflection in the window- waiting for another bloody nose. There's a ghost of moments where he can still feel the fire licking up and down his skin and from time to time, he glances away from the window and down at his arms; checking to make sure that his skin is still unmarred by hell fire. 

When the cashier calls for his name, Hawks slowly rises from his seat and grabs the bag while mumbling his thanks. 

He fumbles with his jacket pocket and takes out a new pack of cigarettes. He hasn't smoked in a long time, but he finds himself in dire need of one right now. It takes him three attempts to light his cigarette, cursing under his breath and forcing himself to steady his hand. Its smoke curls and wafts around him and he drops the cigarette, suddenly disgusted. He can only think about the pile of ash and its smoking remains from his dream. His bag of take out feels like leaden weight in his hand. 

Hawks keeps all the lights in his small apartment on and flicks on the television. Setting down the bag on the coffee table, he grabs a bottle of beer from his fridge and sits on his sofa. It takes him well over an hour to eat his food, he keeps picking at it with his chopsticks- pushing it around in the box with distaste. 

As usual, there's nothing good on television and he eventually switches it over to his YouTube account, in need of watching something cheery to lift his spirit. However, a video catches his eye. "Demons: A Terrifying Documentary" He hovers over the thumbnail, debating. Hawks looks up at the clock above his television and decides against it, it's three in the morning and while he's not particularly religious- he still clings to old superstitions. However, he does save it to his watch later playlist and then moves on to watch some cute animal videos instead. 

The twittering of birds outside of his balcony stirs him awake. Blinking blearily up at his ceiling, he wipes away at the dried drool on his chin and stretches. His back is stiff and pain flares up from between his shoulder blades, it feels like a knife is being dug into him and he slouches back down- hoping for the pain to fade away. He tells himself that he needs to stop sleeping on the lumpy sofa.

Falling back onto said lumpy sofa he turns his head to his messy coffee table, littered with yesterday's take out and strewn beer bottles, a yellowed piece of paper catches his eye. Reaching forward, Hawks grasps the corner of the paper and gently shakes off stray rice from his take out. 

It's the only surviving photo of his parents. Hawks sighs and studies it, an inkling of melancholy makes its home within his heart. He had lost his parents in a tragic house fire when he was only two years old, this photo was taken on his second birthday, a few months before the fire would rip his parents away from him. It's an old and grainy photo, the cheap nineties Kodak camera quality certainly had not aged well against today's age of pristine cameras. 

He does not remember who took the photo, his father is holding up a cake alight with two candles shaped like dinosaurs. Due to shitty over exposure, his mother, standing next to his father, is mostly blurred out by a harsh white light- he can barely make out her face but can see that she's smiling down at Hawks who's perched in a highchair. He, himself, is staring into the candle's light with wide eyes- chubby cheeks puffed out in preparation for blowing them out. 

Besides the photo being grainy and his mother shrouded from sight, it's a nice photo. He finds himself wishing that he could remember them. 

Sometimes, in the dead of night as he struggles to fall asleep- he can recall his mother singing a soft lullaby to him. Her voice is always soft and gentle, lilting with a beautiful and almost heavenly melody that could put even the most skilled song bird to shame.  

When his parents had died, he had no other relatives to take him in and was carted off into Japan's already over crowded foster care system. Bouncing from home to home soon became the norm for Hawks and as much as he can remember, he never stayed in one foster home for very long. Foster families would return him, telling his social care worker that he was too uncontrollable and played too rough with their other foster kids- that he was nothing but a little monster. 

It took a toll on him, by the time he entered elementary school- he had convinced himself that he was unloved and unwanted by everyone. He yearned for approval and attention of the adults around him but they had always turned a blind eye. By the end of middle school, Hawks picked up the nasty habit of smoking and would always show up to parties- ready to drink until his sorrow melted away. High school was nothing but a blur of forgotten and hazy memories. 

As soon as he turned eighteen, he was taken out of the foster care system and kicked out of the home. Luckily, he was able to crash on various acquaintances' sofas well over a year until he had been able to save up enough money to afford his current apartment. 

Even now, as a twenty-three year old, he can still feel the unhealed scars of his childhood that always form into ugly thoughts. He had grown up so accustomed to being alone that even walking down a street bustling with people, he still feels thousands upon thousand miles away from everyone like that he's trapped in a bubble that he can't break free from. Therefore, he doesn't allow anyone to get close to him- the fear of being left behind again is too intense. Hawks can only figure that if he refuses offered friendships, he can't get hurt in the end when they'll ultimately leave.

After all, who'd want to be friends with a monster? Those unspoken words from years before still burrow their way into his mind and with each reminder- he tells himself that it's the only thing that he deserves. 

Hawks blinks away forming tears in his eyes and his fingers clench against the photo, it strains against his iron tight grasp and a tear stretches across it- easily ripping into two. His parents stay on one side of the photo and in his left hand is him sitting by himself. Hawks lets the ruined photo fall from his fingers and they land against his chest. Only the side with Hawks stares up at him. Glowering down at his self as a toddler, he wipes away both photos and reaches for a lukewarm and unfinished beer on the table.

"Black out curtains, where oh where would you be?" Hawks strolls up an aisle, his hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans and he whistles a little tune to himself. When he woke up from his nap earlier, he felt better. He supposes that's how crying goes, shoot some tears out of your eyes and then you feel better about your shitty life. He told himself. 

Even though he's a churning turmoil of mixed emotions beneath his skin, Hawks at least is able to appear that he has his life in order to the public. Outright refusing to be blubbering while out and about. Right now he's a functioning adult and he's on a mission. 

Hawks heads down another aisle and smiles when he sees row upon row of curtains hanging from their racks. He pauses every so often, letting his hand run over the smooth fabrics. 

"Oh!" His keen eyes spy a dark thick fabric and he quickly moves closer to it. He hums in approval and then checks the price tag, immediately, he balks at it.

"Ugh," Hawks groans, taking another peek at the price tag, "Do I really need these?"  

"I'd say you do, bird boy." A voice speaks from behind Hawks and he lets out a soft yelp. He whips around and comes face to face with Rumi.

"Damn, you're awfully skittish." She observes with a grin. Hawks puts on his best smile and shrugs.

"What can I say? I got cat-like reflexes." Rumi silently studies him for a second before pulling something out from her basket and throws it at him, the pack of gum hits him square on the forehead and bounces down to the ground. She snorts and rolls her eyes.

"Yeah. Dead cat-like reflexes maybe."

"Why're you here anyway?"

"I get nights off too, y'know," Rumi bends down and picks her gum pack up and tosses it in her basket, "Anyway, I always like getting to know who I work with. Wanna grab a bite to eat?" Her question hangs in the air and Hawks ponders this. He only has enough in his bank account to either get the curtains or food.

"I'll pay." She offers, waggling her eyebrows and he nods his head; he'd never be one to say no to free food.

Hawks and Rumi find themselves squashed between a couple of business men talking loudly into their phones. It's a small food vendor stand Lunch-Rush's Ramen! stands out in a bright neon sign above the stand. Hawks has never eaten here before but from a quick check on his phone, this is apparently one of the best ramen stands on this side of the city. 

"This place is always packed," Rumi studies the menu hanging up over the vendor's head, "Because the food here is bomb." She proclaims. The cook quickly scoops up some steaming ramen, humming cheerfully to himself as he gives the bowl to a customer. Hawks feels his stomach grumble from the tantalizing smells as the broth that the cook has comes to a boil. He watches, mesmerized, as freshly chopped vegetables are added to the broth and they float up with the bubbles. 

Rumi and Hawks put in their order and within a few minutes, two heaping bowls of ramen are placed in front of them. Hawks breaks apart his chopsticks and digs into the bowl. 

"Holy shit." He murmurs and Rumi's grin grows.

"Told ya." They eat in relative silence which is only broken by the business men on either side of them. The ginger haired man that's sitting next to Hawks is making nearly a whirlwind of hand gestures as he chatters away loudly into his phone to apparently a student of his. Hawks had to duck a few times to avoid getting thwacked upside the head by the erratic man and his out of control hand.

"You're looking a little rough today, trouble sleeping?" Hawks pauses with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth and sets them back in the bowl.

"Yeah, kept forgetting to get curtains." 

"I feel you on that, dude. At least you got them now." Hawks nods, resuming his dinner.

"I bet having your patrol route is pretty tough too." Rumi's voice drops an octave and Hawks sighs, pushing his hair back.

"It's not too bad. I just gotta get used to the night shift." She hums, intently watching him.

"Optimistic. I like it. Not a lot of people are cut out for our job." Hawks shrugs and smiles. They move their conversation away from work and he just listens as Rumi talks about everything and anything under the sun. He occasionally pipes in with his own opinions but for the most part, he just lets her ramble. In a way, it's nice to listen to her. 

Hawks tries to remember the last time he went out to eat with another person and keeps drawing a blank. He even finds himself genuinely laughing along with some of her quips, Hawks nearly feels normal- as if he's just hanging out with a life long friend rather than with his supervisor. For the first time since he was a kid, he doesn't feel like he's stranded alone a thousand miles away from other people. 

As they say their goodbyes to each other, Hawks watches Rumi head towards her own home. He turns away and frowns. How could he be so foolish to think that she would want to be friends with him? She said so herself, she just wants to get to know who she works with. Hawks shakes his head and pulls out a cigarette. 

How could he ever think that he would be deserving of friends? 

"Heh," He chuckles darkly and takes a drag from his cigarette, "Monsters don't need friends. Ain't that right?" Hawks looks up to the clear evening sky, asking no one in particular.   

He can't fall asleep, the ticking of the clock is too loud and the hum of his refrigerator is grating on his nerves. Twisting and turning in his bed only gets his legs tangled up in the sheets that are too warm and he kicks them off. Glaring out of the balcony that's across from his bed, Hawks feels like he's cooped up in his own sort of prison. 

He pads quietly out to the balcony and takes in a breath of cool air. He's always felt better when he's outside, he hates the feeling of being constricted to small spaces. Too many times had he been locked in a small closet for punishment as a kid. 
Hawks holds his bottle of beer up to the morning sun and watches as the amber glass turn golden. Taking a swig from the bottle, he glances over his balcony wall and studies the morning bustle of school children and business people. He's always enjoyed people watching, always thinking up of stories for the faceless passerby's. What could their life be like? What keeps them up at night and what are their worries? Do they have happy families at home waiting for them? Hawks likes to think that they do.

Sighing, he takes out his headphones and turns on his music. He closes his eyes and hums along.

You know, I'll be free.
Just like that bluebird.
Now, ain't that just like me?
Oh, I'll be free.
Just like that bluebird.
Oh, I'll be free.
Ain't that just like me?

Hawks trudges towards the time clock, feeling like a zombie. He woke up too late to grab his nightly coffee and already feels like he's paying the price for it. Rumi stands before the time clock, typing away on her phone. She takes one glance at him and laughs.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" He only grunts and swipes his badge over the reader, "Not a morning person I see." Rumi continues, still tapping on her phone.

"It's eleven at night, not morning." Hawks manages to reply through a yawn.

"You know what I mean, Mr. Grumpypants." She rolls her eyes and pockets her phone, "Shout if you need help with anything." He yawns and waves her off, making his way down to his corridor.

"And get some coffee while you're at it!" Rumi shouts after him. 

"You look how I feel right now." Hawks glances into Shigaraki's room, the twelve armed man still says nothing and glowers at Hawks. His dark eye circles hang as heavy eye bags. 

"I don't even know why I still try to talk to you. All you do is growl like some sort of rabid dog." This earns Hawks one of Shigaraki's trademark growls.

"See? This is exactly what I'm talking about." They continue to study each other through the thick glass and Hawks sighs.

"I dunno, maybe I just feel like I can kinda understand? I mean- I don't got twelve arms like you or anything," Another growl- Hawks ignores him and continues, "But I know how it's like to lose family at a young age." If Hawks hadn't been watching him so intently, he would've missed the ghost of a smile that flickers over Shigaraki's lips before they pull back down to a frown.

"I get how cruel people can be in the face of tragedy. I suppose you were dealt a bad hand at life," Hawks chuckles, "I don't even know where I'm going with this. Don't mind me." He dismisses himself and as he walks away a soft voice follows after him.

"You know nothing." 

Hawks takes one look into Jin's cell and continues forward. He's not at all in the mood to be dealing with the hulking and screaming mass of Jin's other form right now. His screams continue to echo off the walls as Hawks leaves his cell behind.

"Why the long face, Hawks?" Himiko innocently asks, she blinks up at him with her wide ochre eyes and Hawks leans against the wall opposite of her window. 

"Don't worry about it, kid." 

"Talking about things always help people feel better!" She counters and Hawks gives her a small smile.

"I'm just tired. Still not really used to working nights, that's all." Himiko tilts her head to the side and intently watches him.

"Lying won't help you feel better."

"I'm not lying."

"Lying about lying is even worse." Hawks rolls his eyes and pushes away from the wall.

"I gotta continue on my route, see you around." 

"Boo!" She shouts after him.

Spinner's cell is empty, Hawks remembers reading in his nightly reports that he's due for some check ups and won't be back until tomorrow at the earliest. Kurogiri's cell is also void of all swirling black mist. He just has one more cell to check up on and dread pools in Hawks' core. He doesn't want to listen to the humming anymore, he feels like it digs into his very being and he hates it. Luckily, Hawks has his headphones with him tonight and plugs them in. Prepared to just do a quick check up and escape to the camera room. 

He loses himself to the electronic beats of his music and bobs his head along to the melody as he approaches the last cell. 

Once the door looms into his view, his music cuts out with a soft crackle. Suddenly, it changes to a different song that Hawks has never heard before. As the deep singing voice begins, Hawks takes a step backwards. 

I am dark matter.
Your road to ruin.
I am dark matter.
I'm your undoing.

Bring me your soul, bring me your hate.
In my name you will create.
Bring me your fear, bring me your pain,
You will destroy in my name. 

Hawks rips out the headphones and everything cuts to silence. No source of humming or the song from his headphones. He turns around and quickly makes his way back to the camera room. 

The rest of his shift is fairly quiet, Hawks had tried to talk with Shigaraki but only received the cold shoulder from him. Toga had still accused him of lying and Jin stayed in his furious form all night. Leaving only the demon, who he'd ignore the best he could. On his last walk through before the end of his shift, he swore that he could hear a rumbling laughter coming from behind those silver doors. 

With the roll over of the employees coming and leaving from their shifts, Hawks passes by Miss Midoriya at the desk and they share a quick and friendly chat. He waves good bye to her and heads out the front door. 

Hawks blinks against the bright morning sunlight and a lean shadow to his right catches his attention. A tall and thin teenager with a bright shock of white hair is leisurely leaning against the brick wall of the building. He's scrolling lazily through his phone and chewing on some gum.

"Uh, can I help you?" The teenager doesn't bother to look up from his phone and shrugs.

"Not really." 

"Do... Don't you have school to go to?" He doesn't know why he's even attempting to talk to this bored teenager but his question makes the boy finally glance up from his phone. One grey and one blue eye studies him, a large burn covers over the right side of his face. Attempting to cover the burn is bright red hair. Hawks finds himself wondering if this is some sort of new teenage trend to have their hair dyed two different colors. 

"It's Saturday."

"Oh, yes. Of course." Hawks trails off and a blur of dark green rushes past him. A shorter teenager stands before the dual colored teen and greets him, panting and offers a wobbly smile to his friend.

"Sorry I'm late Todoroki! I ran into Kacchan on the way here," The small teenager sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, "And you know how he gets at times." 

"Todoroki?" Hawks can't help but to ask, the newly arrived teenager yelps and whips around to face Hawks. Wringing his hands in front of him and begins to stuttering and blubbering something too fast for Hawks to catch.

"You must be new. My father is the director." Todoroki simply answers, maintaining his mismatched and even gaze to Hawks. 

"A-and my mom is the secretary! I'm Izuku Midoriya, t-this is Shouto Todoroki!" Izuku pipes up, he still can't stop fidgeting and Hawks is beginning to feel bad for this rather plain looking and frazzled teenager. Hawks nods and introduces himself. Director Todoroki's son, Shouto, nods in his direction while Izuku offers his hand out which Hawks shakes. 

"It was nice to meet you!" Izuku smiles up at him, his eyes crinkling up at the corners, "We have to get going though, we're meeting some friends at the mall!" Hawks waves as they leave.

Hawks' walk back to his apartment is relatively peaceful, sparrows hop along the power lines and Hawks stops by a convenience store to get a small bottle of milk for the stray cat that lives behind his apartment. 
He smiles as the fluffy grey cat shoots out from its hiding place and wraps itself around his legs, crying for food. 

"Well hello to you, too." Hawks pulls out a hidden silver tray and pours the cold milk out for the cat. He squats down next to the cat as it happily laps away at its milk and he runs his hand through its soft silver fur. After the cat drank its fill, it brushes up against him and purrs. 

"I'll be back later, I have to go to bed now." Hawks gently tells it, patting it on its head one final time and stands up- brushing off the fur from his pants. 

Hawks walks up three flight of stairs and flips through his key ring for his apartment key. Opening the door, a small envelope greets him. It lays on the floor, someone must've slid it under the door while he was at work. Confused, he bends down and picks it up. 

There's no return address or any words on the envelope at all. He turns it over and opens it, all that's in it is a folded up piece of paper. Unfolding the paper confuses him further and he can only stare down at it, mind racing for any sort of explanation for the two words that are scrawled on the otherwise pristine white paper.

I know.

Chapter Text

Pacing around his apartment, Hawks pauses every few seconds to stare incredulously at the letter that's resting on his coffee table. He picks it up every so often and every time he does, a lump forms in his throat.

"Know what?" Hawks mutters, tossing the paper to the ground and nervously runs his hands through his hair. What is this person trying to tell him? He's never been on the bad side of the law, even as a teenager- he's always been careful not to get caught. He certainly doesn't have any sort of criminal record or he wouldn't have gotten hired at the Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission. He begins to pace around the apartment again and then pauses, Hawks loops back to the letter and does what any sane person would do in this situation. 

Hawks takes it over to the sink and fishes out a lighter, it takes two tries but the paper catches the flame and in a matter of seconds- a little pile of ash is sitting in his sink. Turning on the tap, Hawks watches as the ash swirls around the drain before disappearing from view. 

"There, now it's like nothing ever happened." He nervously chuckles, it's only then does he realize that his hands are shaking. 

"Why do you hide?" A deep and gravely voice cuts through the darkness, Hawks whips around but can't find the owner of the voice. His fingers rest against his pistol and his other hand is outreached, trying to find a wall. There is nothing but the dark void, his footsteps are too loud and he can't calm his heart that's pounding against his rib cage. He doesn't know which way is forward or backward, he's so unbelievably lost in this place. 

"Are you not proud of what you are?" Hawks breaks out in a run towards the voice as laughter rings out all around him. He's getting dizzy and he stops to catch his breath.

"What do you mean?" Hawks shouts back at the voice, he's so confused. Only silence answers him, his breath is heavy and over his panting, he can hear something walking towards him, a clicking of talons echo on the floor. It takes slow and leisurely steps towards him. 

Soon, an azure outline appears and a ring of blue flames ignite around them, trapping Hawks in. The demon advances, now alight by his own hell fire. 

Instead of being dressed in the standard white uniform from the Commission, Dabi is wearing a loose white shirt with a tattered black leather jacket and large metal cuffs at his elbows. He's outfitted with simple black pants that bend in an unnatural way with the backward anatomy of Dabi's legs. Another gleam of metal catches his eyes and he sees a studded belt that hugs closely to Dabi's narrow hips. One hand is tucked into his pants' pocket and his left hand is out with a small flicker of fire summoned in the palm of his hand. Dabi cocks his head to the side and smiles. Hawks draws his pistol and keeps it locked on Dabi, who only scoffs and with a wave of his hand- the pistol is ripped from his hand and scatters away and out of the ring of fire.

"Don't play coy with me." There are still silver sutures that run over Dabi and his mottled purple skin. Out of reflex, Hawks takes a step backwards- his back is beginning to sweat from the heat of the fire. 

"I'm not playing anything with you." Dabi continues forward and sadly shakes his head. 

"How ignorant," Dabi tuts, "Perhaps this will help jog your memory." His fire grows brighter and Hawks squints against the raging fire around them. Through the wall of flames, a visage appears. 

It's a nice house nestled against other houses, he sees that the lawn is meticulously cared for and newly sprouted spring flowers dot along the sidewalk leading up to the front door. Hawks has never seen this house before, most of the homes he's lived at were either dilapidated or just generally overrun with children. A quiet home in a nice suburban neighborhood like this is a place that Hawks was never allowed the luxury of. A car pulls into the open garage door and stepping out is a person that Hawks has only seen in a photograph- his father. Seeing him now, after twenty one years makes his mind reel. 

His father is tall and thin with brown hair and dark eyes, he's in a business suit and is chatting away in his phone. Hawks realizes that he looks nothing like his father at all, perhaps the only thing that he inherited from his father was the dimple in his cheek that he spies when his father laughs. Dabi's fire doesn't have any sound and Hawks feels like he's watching an old silent film, he is able to read his father's lips though. He seems to be talking to his boss, a Director Yagi. 

Hawks watches as his father closes the garage door- leaving only the sight of the now empty front yard of the house. 

The image shifts to the living room and the first thing that Hawks sees is all of the pictures that line the wall, most are of him. In every picture, he's smiling. His father walks back into view and throws the jacket of his suit over a chair and loosens his tie. It seems that he's calling out for someone but from his befuddled expression, nobody is answering him. 

Shifting again, the fiery image shows Hawks in the laundry room playing with an over abundance of fluffy lint in the waste basket. His chubby hands pat over the lint and he lets out a laugh. His hand brushes against a pair of his father's pants and it falls to the floor, a small lighter slides out of the front pocket and Hawks watches in horror as his toddler self pauses and reaches for the lighter. 

"I don't want to see this." Hawks scrunches his eyes closed and Dabi begins to laugh again. 

"Have you remembered now? I wonder, how does it feel to know that you were the one that caused the house fire?" Hawks opens his eyes again and all that greets him is a raging house fire. Only now, is the void filled with the screaming of his father.

"I said that I don't want to fucking see this!" Hawks falls to the ground and cups his face into his hands. He sits there, sniffling- there is no offered comfort from the demon but he can feel the heat of the fire die down a little. Through his fingers, he can see a pair of skinny purple animalistic feet with long black talons standing in front of him.

"My mom wasn't there." Hawks murmurs into his hands. There's a soft sigh and Dabi squats down. Burning hot hands take hold of his own and move them from his face, forcing him to look into Dabi's glowing turquoise eyes. They hold no emotion, instead, they regard him coldly as Dabi peers into Hawks. His claws are too sharp against his wrists and Hawks squirms, trying to get out of Dabi's grasp.

"No. She was not." 

"Then-" A wry smile stretches over Dabi's thin face and in the blue of his fire- it throws him in a sickly light with shadows dancing over his features. Sharp teeth dig into Dabi's lower lip before he speaks again.

"Your mother is very much alive."

"Why?" Hawks begins to ask but cuts himself short with a stifled sob. Dabi tilts his head to the side, unblinking. His black horns seem to glow in the dying light of his fire.

"Why what? That she hadn't claimed you and that you were cast away- rejected like yesterday's trash?" Dabi pauses, his smile grows wider, "Well, perhaps it's because she didn't want to look in the face of the monster that destroyed her home, killed her husband and ruined her life."

"I'm not-" Dabi shakes his head, narrowing his eyes.

"You are a monster. You are a murderer. Just like me and everyone else that's locked away at your work." Hawks struggles away from Dabi's iron grasp and falls backwards into the fire. He begins to writhe and scream as the cruel hell fire encases him. Dabi stands up and stares down at Hawks with a grin. He opens his mouth to say something but a shrill ringing cuts through the void. Dabi pauses and looks up, sighing. Furious blue fire erupts around Dabi and he stretches his mouth open. A viscous black sludge pours from his mouth and it twists his features and begins to pull him inward towards the sludge- Hawks hears the cracking of bones and ripping of skin before all that's left is the pile of sludge on the ground. 

"It seems that our time here is done. See you around, little hero." Is Dabi's last parting words before the cry of the alarm grows louder and louder.

Hawks' eyes fly open and he shoots a hand out to silence the alarm. His apartment is pitch black and even in the waking world, he swears that he can still hear the laughter of the demon. Flicking on the bedside lamp, something catches his attention. Around his wrists are the angry and sore imprints of a hand, turning his both of his wrists around, he's met with five imprints of talons. 

His head is pounding and he glances down at his pillow that's now brown from dried blood. Bringing a hand up to his nose, he feels the telltale sign of crusted blood. 

Running to the bathroom, confirms everything. His eyes are wild and complete with dark rings and against his pale skin- his two day old stubble stands out. Reaching for a razor, he moves to shave it but decides against it. Rather, he steps into the shower and keeps the water as cold as possible. He can still feel the heat of the fire from his dream. 

He pulls down at the cuff of his guard uniform and studies himself in the mirror, he looks like he hadn't slept a wink at all since he took on this job. Who is he kidding though? He really hadn't slept well for a week now. 

Hawks is sure to lock his front door and makes his way down the stairs towards the exit of his apartment building. Stepping out of the door, a meow catches his attention and he sees the stray cat bounding up to greet him.

"Sorry, I don't have anything to give you right now." Hawks mumbles and squats to pet the cat behind its ears, it gives a soft purr and twines itself around him- leaving more silver fur in its wake.

"Hey, I just cleaned it. Don't get your fur everywhere." The cat answers back with a soft meow and headbutts against his leg. He chuckles and picks it up, burying his face into its soft fur.

"I guess I can't be mad at you." The cat struggles against his hug and deftly leaps out of his arms and walks away, tail flicking in the air. It meows one more time before jumping up on a ledge and curling up, studying him with golden eyes. 

"I promise, I'll get you some food when I get back." Hawks pats the cat on the head and begins his walk to work. Halfway there, it begins to rain and he runs the rest of the way to work.

"Did you decide to take a shower with your uniform on or somethin'?" Rumi greets him while hiding a grin from behind a hand.

"Something like that." Rumi hums and nods her head understandably.

"It happens to the best of us. It looks like it's gonna only get worse, my phone said that we got a nice big storm headed our way."

"Fantastic." Hawks grumbles and pauses, "Hey, what do you guard over there anyway?" Rumi slides her badge over the time clock and it softly beeps. She stretches her arms over her head and lets out a long groan.

"Nothing too exciting. I sure as hell don't got a demon in my charge like you. Most of mine are pretty well behaved 'cept for one. He's not much of a talker but he's pretty annoying. Has to be kept isolated at all times, got some weird thing where he can merge with or destroy living things. As long as we got those hands of his tied up though, he can't do shit." Hawks wants to ask if Rumi has dreams of them like he does but has no idea how to even bring that up to her. 'Hey, do any of them haunt you in your dreams and then you wake up to a bloody nose and hand prints from them?' He decides to not ask that, opting to suffer in silence. 

"Stay on your toes tonight, bird boy. They act like animals when it storms."

"Why do you call me that?" Rumi pauses mid step and looks over her shoulder with a smirk.

"Bird boy?" 

"Yeah." 

"My dude, your name is Hawks." She laughs and continues down her corridor and leaves him alone in the room.

Rumi was right, Hawks confirms to himself. Everyone in his patrol route is going stir crazy. They all pace up and down in their cells, occasionally letting out hisses. It's unnerving and Hawks doesn't bother to talk to any of them, the rumbling of thunder is their only conversational partner tonight. 

Not all of them are acting like caged animals though, Dabi's cell remains quiet. If it weren't for the steady rise of smoke in their glass cylinders, Hawks could've tricked himself into believing that the last cell on his route was empty of all demons. 

As he turns around and heads back down towards the camera room, another crack of thunder vibrates down into the basement and the power flickers. Muffled howls fill the corridor and there's thudding against various doors. It falls quiet after a moment and the only sound is Hawks' breathing. He takes a sigh of relief before another clap of thunder sounds off and when the power flickers again, it stays off. 

"God dammit." Hawks mutters and reaches for his radio transceiver. There's a scream down the pitch black hallway and something cracks. 

"Uh, hey." He speaks quietly into the radio.

"What's up?" 

"Do we got a back up generator somewhere by chance?" The radio transceiver is silent for a heartbeat before it crackles back to life.

"Yeah, it should be kicking back up in a few moments. Stay on the look out, Hawks." Hawks takes out a flashlight and turns it on, its small beam of light barely illuminates the floor in front of him and he swallows thickly. Another cracking rings out and the screaming grows louder. 

He makes his way slowly towards the screaming, telling himself to keep his hands steady as they begin to shake. 

Silence cuts through before a thunderous crash up ahead fills the empty corridor. Something skids along the concrete floor and then the screaming stops, instead there's a soft peal of laughter. There's heavy panting somewhere ahead of Hawks, then, footsteps getting closer to him. 

Hawks is paralyzed with fear as a massive foot steps into the weak light. He moves the flashlight upwards and swears under his breath. 

Standing before him is the hulking mass of Jin, small eyes glint off of the flashlight and thick ribbons of drool drip down from his gaping mouth. Standing at least ten feet tall, he's hunched into the corridor and large hands flex and uncurl at his sides. 

"H-hey there big guy." Hawks takes a step backwards when a small blonde head peeks out from behind Jin and in the weak light, it glints off of Himiko's wide smile.

"Do you know what I like the most?" Hawks slowly reaches down towards his pistol as Himiko slides in front of Jin, her eyes reflecting in the darkness.

"When I can smell fear." She answers simply, licking her canines. With his other hand, he speaks into the radio once more.

"I'm going to need backup here." Himiko shakes her head and skips forward, Jin continues to stand still- barring Hawks' escape.

"I don't think that help is going to come, Hawks. She's going to be plenty busy with her little friends." Himiko tilts her head, listening for something before she perks up and laughs.

"Besides, I don't think that it should just be us that you're going to have to worry about." Hawks is about to ask what she means when there's an explosion behind them, sending Jin into hysterics. He lets out a loud shriek that makes Hawks drop his flashlight to cover his ears. Soft footfalls approach him and stop short. 

"Not when there's someone else that just escaped." Himiko nearly sings out in glee. She kneels in front of Hawks and giggles, "If I were you, I'd start running. It makes things much more fun." Bare feet slap against the floor, making their way quickly to Hawks and the other two. Himiko quickly stands up and skips back towards Jin and peers around him into the dark corridor. A low hiss reaches Hawks and he straightens up, recognizing the hiss from anywhere.

"Shit." Hawks scrambles to his feet and fumbles for his pistol. Jin lets out a warning growl and he remembers what the files said about being calm around him. Shooting at Shigaraki will only send Jin into a chaotic burst of fury and Hawks isn't sure if he would be able to fight off an enraged Jin along with Shigaraki and Himiko.

Deciding the best option for right now is to turn around, he begins to run back towards the end of the corridor- hoping for any sort of exit down there. He doesn't have any keys to open any of the empty cells and right now his only hope is for an exit so he can radio in help.

He runs along the pitch black hallway, when a skeletal hand shoots out and grabs hold of his jacket. It crumbles to ash and Hawks shrugs off the jacket, the burst of adrenaline courses through his veins and he pushes himself to run faster. Leaving Shigaraki and his disintegrated jacket behind. Sirens begin to wail and the power generator finally kicks up, flashing red lights that makes Hawks want to throw up.

"Fuck fuck fuck." Hawks shouts and he trips over his own feet, skidding to a stop. A soft chuckle reaches his ears and Hawks scrambles backwards, his back touching Dabi's burning hot door. Trough the flashing red lights, he can make out the emaciated form of Shigaraki that stalks towards him. He swallows thickly and Shigaraki's face splits to reveal an all too large grin.

"It's time to say goodbye." Shigaraki whispers and takes another step forward with his hands outreached. Hawks begins to feel fuzzy and dizzy- to his right a black cloud appears out of nowhere and another hand grabs hold of him and yanks him into the mist. Leaving Shigaraki enraged as he lunges towards Hawks and the cloud before all he can see is black. 

For a few moments, Hawks feels like he's Alice and he's tumbling down the White Rabbit's tunnel. While the corridor was dark, this seems to be even darker. His hearing is muffled and before he can throw up, he lands in a cell. 

"What? Wh-" A cold and scaly hand clamps down on his mouth.

"Shh! They'll hear you, you idiot." Hawks' eyes adjust to the darkness and he sees that he's in Kurogiri's cell. Kurogiri continues to stay in his distorted form, keeping both Hawks and Spinner hidden from sight.

"Are you going to be quiet?" Spinner whispers and Hawks nods, "Good." Spinner lets go of Hawks and he takes in deep gulps of air.

"What was that?" He quietly asks Spinner and he motions around them to Kurogiri that's floating lazily around the cell.

"Thank this guy, he pulled me in here when that big guy out there was pounding at my door. We saw you run like hell from McHands and decided that if they killed you, we'd all be paying the price for it. Damn lunatics." As Hawks begins to say something, three shots ring out in succession and a panicked voice shouts out, her voice muffled through the thick glass.

"Hawks?!" Spinner crosses his arms and taps a finger over one of his arms.

"Looks like she took care of 'em."

Hawks radios to Rumi that he's in Kurogiri's cell and after a long stretch of silence, she bounds over to the window.

"How in the hell did you get in there?! Do you know how worried sick I was? I get over here after your distress call and there's three of 'em walking up and down the hallway, sniffing away like bloodhounds? I thought you were a goner!" Hawks motions towards Spinner and Kurogiri, who's trying to take form.

"These two saved my life." Rumi's ruby eyes narrow slightly before she nods. 

"Right, well. Time for you to get out of there. Director Todoroki is on his way." As Kurogiri moves to teleport Hawks outside of the cell, Spinner taps Hawks on the shoulder and holds up the pistol.

"Maybe next time, keep a hold on this. You never know whose wrong hands these might fall to." Hawks takes the pistol, it feels too heavy and he straps it back to his belt. When he's on the other side of the cell, Rumi punches him in the shoulder.

"You're a fucking idiot." 

"Yeah, I've been called that a lot recently." 

"Tell me what's the meaning of this." Rumi and Hawks are in Director Todoroki's office and there is fury in his pale blue eyes. Rumi doesn't shrink against the scrutiny though and speaks for the both of them, explaining what had happened. Lighting strikes in the distance and there's a soft rumble of thunder that shakes the office. Director Todoroki sits down at his desk and runs a hand down his scarred face.

"Officer Usagiyama, fill out the incidence reports. I need to talk to Officer Hawks." She nods and bows, leaving them alone. 

"Sit down." Hawks follows Director Todoroki's order and promptly sits down.

"Is it true that subjects  19-8-21-9-3-8-9 and 11-21-18-15-7-9-18-9 took matters into their own hands and warped you into 11-21-18-15-7-9-18-9's containment cell?"

"That is correct. They saved my life." Director Todoroki's eyes narrow and he curtly shakes his head.

"Monsters do not save lives."

"Director Todoroki, may I obj-"

"No you may not, Officer. I am here to remind you that it is your duty to keep those monsters in check. I have been getting reports from Security Specialist Higawara that you have been rather amiable with those that are in your charge. Would you care to explain?" Hawks plays with the hem of his shirt and then rubs the back of his neck. He's never been one to sit still and being in front of his boss, who's ticked off to high heavens is not doing any good on his already frayed nerves.

"Well, Director Todoroki, I have no excuse for my past actions." There's a grunt from the director and Hawks continues.

"In my experience though, those who are treated kindly often behave better than those who are abused." So maybe he's talking out of his personal experience of how he was treated as a child in foster care but he thinks that he isn't wrong though. If he had been rude to Spinner and Kurogiri, they may have very well had no qualms about leaving him to die at the hands of Shigaraki. Director Todoroki leans forward and steeples his hands together with a sigh.

"And has that worked for you?"

"Pardon?"

"Did kind treatment to the three subjects who've escaped work well in your favor? If you still want to play these delusional games with me, I can and will show you the CCTV recordings. Despite your kind actions towards those subjects, they still did not show any hesitance when it came to attempting in your demise. So I will ask you one more time, had it worked for you?"

"No sir." Hawks can't keep with Director Todoroki's gaze anymore and looks away in shame. He glances over some photos that hang overhead and there's an old photo of Director Todoroki who is shaking the hand of another man, this one is very thin with a head of thick blond hair and piercing blue eyes. They're both looking into the camera; while the blond man is smiling, Director Todoroki isn't. After a closer look at the two, Director Todoroki's name badge shows Assistant Director Todoroki while the blond man's name badge proudly is on display as Director Yagi.

Yagi, Hawks wonders, why does that name sound so familiar? Director Todoroki clears his throat and Hawks blinks, looking back to Director Todoroki.

"I will not be tolerating any other acts of insubordination. I will have to write this up on your file and will require your signature to confirm that you accept our terms and conditions. Under no other circumstance, are you to remain friendly with any of them. Do I make myself clear?" 

"Yes." Director Todoroki stiffly nods and opens a filing cabinet. Taking out Hawks' thin file, he boots on his computer and prints out a single sheet of paper. Giving it to Hawks, he reaches for a pen and scans the paper. It's a standard write up form and Hawks signs it at the bottom and dates it. Director Todoroki follows suit and neatly lays it on the top of his file. 

"Good. You are dismissed for the night, Officer Kamihara is taking the rest of your shift. I expect you to be back at work tomorrow night with no other instances."

"Yes, thank you Director Todoroki." Hawks bows and stands. He leaves the room and closes the door gently behind him. He sighs and leans against the door frame, running his hands through his hair and trying to collect his cool.

"He write you up?" Rumi startles him, there's some papers in her hand and she looks up at him with sympathy. He can only manage a nod and she punches his shoulder, lightly this time.

"I'll put in a good word for you. He's not the best to be around when an emergency pops up. Man, do I miss the old director." 

"Director Yagi?" Rumi tilts her head at his question and pauses.

"Yeah, how do you know his name?" 

"Oh, I saw it on a picture that he has in the office." Rumi nods, running her thumb along the papers' edges.

"I forgot about that picture."

"What happened to him?" She pauses at this and bites her lip. Rumi takes in a deep breath and tries to give him a smile.

"Well, I guess I might as well tell you. It might help you understand that importance of our job," She pauses again, "Two years ago there was a breach in our facility and Director Yagi was the first to respond. Before he became director, he was chief supporting officer in our branch and had the training to deal with breaches. Well, the one who broke out was very dangerous. That's an understatement but long story short. Both Director Yagi and the escaped subject had lost their lives in the struggle to subdue the subject." Rumi trails off and shakes her head.

"When Director Todoroki took charge, he changed a lot of policies and locked down on the remaining subjects. He's hellbent on making sure what happened to Director Yagi doesn't happen to anyone else here." Hawks can only nod, soaking up the information and she moves to knock at Director Todoroki's door with her incidence reports. Hawks leaves her to deal with the director and he heads out to go back home. 

It's three in the morning when Hawks reaches his apartment complex, the first thing he notices is his stray cat is nowhere in sight. He sighs, he'd been looking forward to some sort of comfort from the cat and figures it's out and about, hunting for mice or whatever cats do in the dead of night. 

He climbs his stairs and unlocks the front door, this time there is no letter to greet him and he breathes out a sigh of relief. 

Rummaging through his fridge, he takes out some leftovers and cooks it over his stove top while turning on the television. Hawks hates the silence and needs any sort of white noise to keep his nerves at bay. He watches the television in the corner of his eye while his food begins to bubble. 

It has finally stopped raining but there's still the occasional clap of thunder and spark of lightening that spiders across the night sky. Usually, he loves to watch a good thunderstorm but after what happened tonight, it just sets him on edge. 

He takes his usual spot on his sofa and eats, only pausing to take a drink from his beer. Letting his mind wander, he finds himself thinking back to the old director of the Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission. 

"Yagi." Hawks murmurs to his empty apartment. The man hadn't looked familiar at all but his name is starting to drive him crazy. He knows he recognizes it from somewhere, but where? 

His mind is starting to feel fuzzy from the beer and his eyelids are heavy. He struggles to stay awake but falls asleep.

"What is this place?" Hawks asks, he's more irritated than scared to be pulled into another void. There's a chuckle and Dabi steps into view, looking much like he did in Hawks' previous dream.

"This is my own little realm. I don't really know how you keep worming your way back in here. I can't exactly complain though, it gets awfully boring. Being locked away with no contact whatsoever with the outside world."

"What do you mean that you don't know? Just stop using your demonic powers and let me go." Dabi leans against an invisible wall and shrugs.

"There's no powers that I'm using that makes you pop up into my realm of existence. You really think that I'd waste my time on some lowly security guard to play around with?" Dabi pauses and digs through his pockets, "You don't happen to have a cigarette on ya?" Hawks doesn't know why he bothers but he pats down his own pockets and produces his pack. Opening it, he tosses a cigarette to the demon who catches it without looking up.

"Do... do you need a light?" Why is he being so friendly to this demon? Hawks honestly doesn't even know the answer to that. Dabi snorts and summons a small burst of fire, lighting it.

"Right." Hawks mumbles and sits down on the floor.

"So you really can't just let me go?" Dabi rolls his eyes and lazily waves his lit cigarette around.

"No. I don't even have power outside of those fucking talismans you got hanging up all over the place." 

"You're able to leave!" The demon in front of him scoffs and moves to sit next to Hawks, the smell of sulfur is overbearing and Hawks scrunches his nose.

"That's because this is my own realm, bird brain. Of course I can leave if I want." 

"Then what am I supposed to do here? Just sit around twiddling my thumbs and just say 'this is fine' like that cartoon meme dog?" Dabi studies him, taking a drag from the cigarette- quirking up an eyebrow.

"A what?"

"Oh come on, you have to know what a dog is." Dabi waves his hand dismissively and shakes his head.

"No, I know that. The other word you said. A meme." 

"You don't know what memes are?" The demon huffs and a cloud of smoke seeps out from his nose.

"I've been locked up for fifteen years." Dabi reminds him and Hawks clucks sadly.

"You're missing out on a lot, dude." 

"I can think up of more things to do than to waste my time on memes." 

"Like what? You're chained up like some sorta disturbing BDSM exhibit. You're not really one to talk about wasting time." Dabi rolls his eyes and shifts, taking another hit of the cigarette. 

"You're really fucking annoying." Hawks hums and watches the cigarette smoke curl up and disappear into the inky darkness. 

"So you really don't know how I get here?" Glowing turquoise meets his own and they blink slowly.

"I can't tell you all the answers, that ruins the fun."

"So you do know!" 

"Of course," Dabi snorts, "Any one of us can tell."

"I can't."

"I can see." Hawks waits for the demon to continue and when he doesn't, Hawks stands up and begins to pace around.

"Great. I'm stuck here you and you're not being any sort of help!" Dabi rests a hand against his knee and slowly stands up, shrugging.

"Well, I guess there's one thing that I can try to kick you out." Hawks narrows his eyes and keeps an even gaze with the demon.

"What?" A thin smile stretches over Dabi's features and he summons his a large blue fire ball. 

"Before I blast you to smithereens, I suppose I can give you a little hint why everything is going to shit for you right about now. You're going to have to hurry though, it seems as though someone is on their way to meet you. Check your mirror. I don't know how you don't remember anything but your mirror will hold the answer you want." With that, Dabi hurls the fire at Hawks and he's engulfed in the hellfire. 

Hawks bolts up from his sofa, hands flying to his chest and he calms his breathing. 

"This shit is getting real old." He grumbles and remembers Dabi's parting words. A quick glance to his clock reads three thirty in the morning. Strange how slow time moves in that realm but Hawks doesn't dwell on that and runs to the mirror. 

The only thing that's off is Hawks' bloody nose but he earnestly asks himself if that's even abnormal anymore at this point. He stares into the mirror, turning his body this way and that- trying to find whatever might have his answer but his reflection shows him nothing. He's beginning to think that maybe Dabi just told him that to shut him up and he makes a note to give him an earful the next time he's shot into Dabi's dream realm. He begins to undress to take a shower. Lifting his shirt up and over his head, he tosses it to the ground and turns on the shower. 

A quick glance back into the mirror makes him double and then triple take. He feels his mouth drop open and he twists more to get a view of his back.

Nestled between his shoulder blades are two long vertical scars that run down towards the middle of his back. From the look of it, they're old. Pale welted scarring tissue stares back at him. He reaches a hand around and runs a finger down one scar. It's warm under his light touch and unused muscles flex out of reflex. 

"What the fuck?" No matter how hard he tries to remember, he has no idea how he's gotten the scars and he can't take his eyes away from them- as if he's scared if he looks away, they'll disappear. If Dabi had thought that this would answer Hawks' confusion, he was entirely wrong, he's only more confused and a headache begins to bloom in his skull. 

From outside of his bathroom, a knock sounds out at his front door and Hawks finally tears his eyes from the scarring and through the cracked bathroom door and towards the front door.

"Hawks?" A muffled voice speaks and Hawks takes a step backwards.

"Hawks, we need to have a talk." They begin to knock again, "I know you're in there."

He pads quietly over to the door and peers through the peak hole, revealing Sajin standing alone in the hallway. 
"How do you know where I live?" He asks through the door and Sajin scoffs.

"Because I'm psychic. C'mon, I looked up your file." 

"That's not creepy at all." Sajin taps his foot against the floor and rolls his eyes.

"Look, are you going to let me in or not?" 

"Nice place you got here." Sajin notes, looking around his sparse apartment. Hawks sets down a glass of water in front of jim and takes a seat on the sofa.

"Thanks. So uh, may I ask why you're here at three thirty in the morning?" Sajin takes a sip of water and leans back into the sofa. From his bag, he pulls out Hawks' files that Director Todoroki had out earlier in the night and splays it out on the coffee table.

"I was tasked in reading through your files, Director Todoroki seems to be quite interested in something that was previously overlooked." Sajin pulls out a paper from the back and hands it to Hawks.

"Would you care to explain the fact that you completely omitted the fact that your father worked close with Director Yagi on a project? A project that was thought to be considered a great failure on behalf of the Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission?" Hawks first studies the photo of his father with Director Yagi, both are dressed in sharp suits and shaking hands with both of them smiling. Lifting the photo up, an official document sits heavily in his hands. Its title catches his eyes. 

Project Nephilim. 

Now Hawks remembers why Yagi sounded so familiar. Director Yagi was his father's boss.

Chapter Text

Project Nephilim

'Project Nephilim was founded in 1990 when the Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission had encountered and successfully acquired a celestial being. After the capture of the celestial being, Director Yagi Toshinori had chosen Doctor Kita Hiroto to lead the project. Doctor Kita is well known for his absolute persistence and keen intelligence. The author of several best selling works of human anatomy and physiology, he is also highly esteemed and respected in the science community for his world renown research papers that explain the possibility to splice and reconstruct human DNA- essentially having the knowledge of being able to create the perfect being.

Director Yagi had been quoted 'Doctor Kita is a close friend of mine and I'm very pleased that he will be supervising the team of medical specialists in Project Nephilim. I look forward to what the future holds for the Federal H.E.R.O. Public Safety Commission.'

Project Nephilim was designed to create a perfect crossbreed from human and angel DNA. A being that would be immune to all human ailments and possibly even old age. It was hypothesized that Project Nephilim would assist in creating advancements in the medical world with a test subject who would be able to contribute to various medical research. With Doctor Kita's knowledge in successfully extracting human cells and merging them with potential compatible donors, it was led to believe that Project Nephilim was going to be deemed an academic success.

In 1995, Project Nephilim had been considered a catastrophic failure. All attempts in creating the perfect breed of human and celestial beings ended with horrific and disfigured embryos that would perish after months of-' 

Hawks looks up from the paper, not able to stomach reading anymore of it. Sajin leans forward and raises an eyebrow in anticipation for Hawks' answer.

"I think that you might have the wrong idea here." Hawks starts, setting the paper back down on the coffee table. Sajin lets out a huff and crosses his arms.

"Director Todoroki and I are just curious about how you didn't bring this up to his attention earlier." 

"Sajin, my father had died back in 1997. I have no memories of what he did for his job, let alone the man himself." Sajin's eyes narrow.

"You said that you talk to your parents daily on one of your first shifts. I'd appreciate if you tell the truth." Hawks sighs and runs his hands through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts.

"I meant my mom and step dad. He basically raised me as his own, I only recently found out that he isn't actually my biological father." Sajin stays quiet for a long time before he slowly stands up and studies Hawks curiously.

"Right, I'm sorry if I caused any grievance. I'm only here on Director Todoroki's orders. Trust me, I'd rather be back at home with my family but, work is work." Hawks relaxes and waves his hand.

"Don't worry about it. I understand." He leads Sajin over to the door and he smiles, saying his goodbyes to the officer. Once Hawks shuts the door, he slides down the door and stares at the floor between his feet. He's had a migraine since waking up from Dabi's realm and finding out about his father only worsens the pounding in his head. 

"Is that all I am? A science experiment just to be sliced open in the name of medicine?" Sajin had taken the paper with him and Hawks is left alone with even more questions. 

He supposes there's only one way to find out his answers. 

Hawks' problem though is that he's wide awake at this time, anger is running through his body and all he wants to do is throw things around and scream. Who was that woman in the photograph? Maybe he's really just human and happened to get those scars out of pure coincidence. He's not abnormally strong, smart or even religious. Isn't being religious an important part of even being half angel? He can't be. He refuses to even humor the idea of his heritage. There's just no way in hell that half breeds even exist- it would be medically impossible, the reports stated that. Yet, he had thought that demons and monsters don't exist either and here he is- working with them on a nightly basis. 

Hawks jumps up and runs to the bathroom, he ignores the scars that hide from underneath his shirt and throws open his medicine cabinet. If he can't fall asleep, he'll force himself too. Hawks knows that he has some sort of sleeping pills floating around in the cabinet, the only issue is finding them through his hair products and cologne bottles. 

He rips open the box and quickly scans over the instructions. It only claims to require one pill, but he's always had problems falling asleep even after following the directions. Instead, he punches out three pills from the foil packaging and tosses them in his mouth- swallowing them down with a handful of water. 

Next, he stalks over to his bed and makes a nest out of his surplus of blankets and pillows. Burrowing down into it, he lets out a soft sigh and closes his eyes. 

And he waits. 

And waits. 

And waits some more.

"Okay, what the fuck!" He shouts, waving his arms in the air. Dabi slowly materializes and sighs, looking rather unimpressed.

"Do you know that my life has known no peace ever since you decided to pop up into existence? Is your only goal in life to make mine a living hell?" 

"What the fuck!" Hawks can only repeat, he stopped waving his arms and has them crossed over his chest with a frown. Dabi looks him up and down before he rolls his eyes.

"If that's all you're going to say, I'm just gonna set you on fire."

"Do you maybe want to explain yourself a little more clearly?!"

"How much more clear can I get? Do you want a graph or something to show me setting you on fire?"

"Not that!" Hawks huffs impatiently, "How many people know?"

"Know what?" Hawks throws his hands into the air and scoffs, much to Dabi's growing amusement. 

"Know what I am!" Dabi looks up into the void and hums, tapping a foot against the floor and he stays quiet for a long time before he shrugs.

"Dunno, I'm a demon- not a consensus record." 

"You knew what I am." Hawks points out.

"Once again, because I'm a demon. I could smell it on you the second you strolled into the building."

"So you're saying that I stink." Hawks deadpans and now it's Dabi's turn to huff. He rolls his turquoise eyes and shakes his head.

"Let me put it this way, every time you're near me- you smell something right?"

"Yeah. You smell like you just climbed out of a dumpster." Dabi pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters a string of curses under his breath.

"This is what I get for trying to be nice. Okay, smart ass. You got a smell too, I wouldn't say that you smell like you climbed out of a dumpster but it ain't a nice smell. We were never really supposed to meet, I was supposed to stay in hell and you're not even meant to exist- you freaky science experiment. So, to each other- we reek. I don't know why. But let's say that by from some magical act of 'friendship'," Dabi air quotes, "Like if a demon's anchor were to die and his friend- Dumb Fuck the angel, decided to summon him back and tether him back to earth, they'd smell different." 

"What?"

"They'd be bonded. Souls intertwined or some dumb shit like that, that makes me want vomit. So their true scent would show through the act of love or something." Dabi shrugs, Hawks only nods along- pretending to know whatever the hell Dabi is rambling on about. 

"Okay, well I guess thanks for the history lesson or whatever that was but that doesn't help my situation at all." 

"You asked and I answered." 

"Whatever, what I'm trying to get at is that I just had my fucking supervisor here and he had this- this document about my father and the old director. Holy shit. I don't even know what I'm trying to say. What happens if he finds out what I am? Do I even know what I am? I think I'm having a midlife crisis. I'm losing my god dammed mind here." 

"Slow down there, jesus. You're giving me a headache."

"My whole life is a headache." 

"Now you're just being over dramatic," Dabi tuts and pauses. He goes quiet again and gives Hawks a small grin, "Wanna see something?" 

"What?" Hawks asks sullenly, he's not really in the mood for Patches the Demon to be entertaining him but- beggars can't be choosers. At least trying to talk to Dabi might answer some his questions. Dabi takes a step backwards and closes his eyes. His eyebrows knit together and a gust of wind whirls around him- whipping his thick hair in all directions. A small breeze tugs at Dabi's loose white shirt and it rises to his midriff. Hawks notes that there is no grooved and purple skin to be seen, rather just normal looking human skin that stretches across Dabi's torso. 

Air pressure builds around the two of them and it breaks Hawks away from his thoughts. He feels his ears pop and he shuffles nervously. Finally, the dark void of Dabi's realm melts and shifts to a park, there's a giant red sun that's either rising or setting over the treeline and it throws the sky into soft purples and golds. 

"What's this?" Dabi shrugs and thrusts his hands into his pocket, shooting Hawks a wry smile.

"Thought maybe you'd want a change of scenery."

"If you can change your realm around you, why do you keep it pitch black?" 

"It fits my aesthetic." Dabi answers him simply and Hawks rolls his eyes. 

"You're being awfully nice for a demon." 

"And you're being really annoying for an angel. Well, it's like they took both annoying aspects of humans and angels and smashed them together to make you. Horrifying really." Dabi begins to walk along the path and Hawks follows.

"Says you." 

"I know what I am." The demon replies quietly, his eyes darken and the soft colors of the sky disappear behind thick storm clouds. Hawks clears his throat and tries to mask his growing discomfort with both the change of Dabi's mood and the quickly dimming scenery around them. 

"You said something about an anchor?" Dabi stays quiet, he lays down. Long blades of grass peak through the thick curtain of his black hair and the demon blinks up at the dark storm clouds. The tips of his horns dig slightly into the ground and he shifts again, one hand runs through the grass while the other rests comfortably over his chest.

"Most demons can't stay on earth for very long without an anchor to help them keep a form. There's always those few who are powerful enough to be able to stay here." Some of the storm clouds let up and pastel hues from earlier peak through.

"What about you?" Dabi's eyebrows furrow and he doesn't answer Hawks question. Hawks sits down next to Dabi and plucks a small dandelion- running a thumb gently over the pop of yellow, "Can I ask you something?"

"I suppose you'll still ask even if I say no." Dabi looks over to Hawks with a smirk and he sits up, shaking the loose grass from his hair.

"Why do you act different in here than when I do my patrols?" Dabi stops carding a hand through his hair and begins to tap a claw against the base of his horn, lost in thought.

"I've been chained up for fifteen years in that fucking cell. That's enough to drive anyone insane. Here, in my realm- I have control. I can bend anything to my will," To prove his point- Dabi leisurely flicks his wrist and soon the clouds darken once more and it begins to rain, "I suppose being in here is what's left over from my old self. Out in that cell, is I guess your stereotypical demon. Here though, I can at least remind myself of who I once was."

"I thought that all demons were like- I dunno, big and scary that have the taste for human flesh." Hawks regrets his poor choice of wording but it makes Dabi chuckle.

"The only horror that this dammed world has to offer is humanity itself."

"That got deep fast." Dabi's chuckle dies off and he looks up to the raining sky, letting large drops of rain pelt down onto his upturned face. His black hair hangs limply against his forehead and he quickly glances over at Hawks. For some unknown reason, Dabi is keeping the area around Hawks dry. There's not a drop of rainwater within a foot's radius around him.

"I think," Dabi angrily blinks back up at the rain and frowns, "That I want to be left alone now." He mumbles and summons a fireball. Hawks closes his eyes when the fire hits him square in the chest. 

Hawks stirs awake, his eyelids are still heavy from the sleeping aid and from a check of his phone, it's only been fifteen minutes. Hawks groans and falls back against the soft pillows. A warm liquid drips down from his nose and into his throat and he fights back a gag as he tastes iron on his tongue. Hawks sits back up and tilts his head forward, letting bright crimson droplets fall against his hand. As his nose continues to bleed, Hawks wonders if it's possible to die from getting too many bloody noses. 

It's silent and even Hawk's own breathing doesn't dare to make a sound. He feels like he's moving through molasses as he makes his way up to the ancient temple before him. Weeds break through the cracked pavement and curl upwards, reaching towards him as he takes hesitant steps towards the looming torii gate. Moss clings to the wooden arch and three large bells hang from the cracked beams, they stay silent even in the soft breeze. 

As he passes under the gate, sounds burst to life. He can hear the cicadas singing in the trees, joined by crickets who chirp away. Soft ringing of the brass bells chime quietly from behind him. As Hawks approaches the temple, a soft sobbing breaks through the insects' orchestra. He pauses and listens closely, it's a woman crying. He can't see her but from her cries, she must be in pain. Hawks takes a step forward and a twig snaps under his foot. 

Instantly all noise cuts out again and the silence is deafening. He can hear shuffling in the abandoned temple and a thin woman dressed in all white steps out. Her face is obscured by long snow white hair and she lets out a wail. A bony arm reaches out towards him and she points with a long finger. 

"Give him back." The woman manages to speak between her sobs. Her voice is raspy from her crying and she cuts herself off with another sob. Hawks moves towards her, unable to just stand and watch her mourn for whoever 'he' is. She falls to her knees and hides her hands in her face.

"Who?" Hawks finally asks, his own voice feels foreign to him. He bends down and reaches for the woman. She peeks up to him and through the thin white strands of her hair and hollow grey eyes blink up at him- tears dripping down her gaunt face. 

"My boy, my baby." The woman chokes out and she freezes like someone had pressed pause. Her sobs continue to ring faintly throughout the abandoned temple but she remains as still as a statue. Hawks waves a hand in front of her face to no avail. Frowning, Hawks stands up and studies the temple she climbed out of and presses onward.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He can still hear the woman's cries and he just shakes his head. He carefully steps over decaying talismans and presses a hand against the cold stone of the temple to keep his balance. 

"What have I done? Oh god, I'm so sorry." Muffled cries from outside still ring faintly around the small temple and Hawks pays her no mind. There's no helping her if she's frozen in place. He takes a look around the dim temple and sees a small body laying on its side towards the back of the temple. He starts towards the body before he pauses. 

Something about the boy seems familiar, he squints against the darkness and feels his heart drop when he sees the dual red and white of the boy's hair. As soon as he takes a step in the boy's direction, the woman's voice dies down to a gurgle and then stops completely. 

He kneels down next to the small boy and gently rolls him to his back and shakes his shoulder. Thankfully, the boy stirs and his eyes slowly flutter open. Blue and grey eyes stare up at him silently before they flicker to over his shoulder and widen. In the corner of his vision, long and thin fingers hover over his right shoulder before clamping down on him. Its touch is ice cold and Hawks can see tendrils of frost spreading from the fingers and onto his shirt. Turning more, the woman's face is only inches away from him and now her eyes are pitch black as they stare down at the boy.

"You're a monster." The woman hisses and leans forward, her breath is fetid and cold puffs of air comes out when she speaks. Hawks doesn't allow himself time to think and throws her back with a shove of his arm and scoops up the small boy, holding him closely to his chest as he sprints to the temple's exit. Screams of fury echoes all around him and cracks appear in the foundation and the walls of the temple. As the woman's shrieks grow louder, pieces of the temple shatter and raise upwards to the pitch black sky. He ducks to avoid getting hit from a chunk of concrete, he tucks the boy's head close to him to protect him from debris.

Outside, the forest is in flames. Bright orange and red fire lick upwards to the sky that's now littered with broken pieces of the temple and Hawks skids to a stop. Small fingers tighten around his shirt and a little whimper catches his attention. He looks down and is met with a tear stained face. 

"You'll be safe, don't worry." Hawks gives him an unstable reassuring smile and glances over his shoulder at the now ruined temple. A thin figure stands in the middle of the destroyed temple, she lets out another shriek and the remaining concrete and stone explode as she lunges towards them. 

Hawks bolts towards the torii gate and is thrown back from an invisible force. The boy lets out a soft sob and shakes his head.

"I can't leave." Hawks tries to leave through the gate again but is rooted to the ground. The young boy shifts and looks over Hawks' shoulder, shaking slightly. He turns back to Hawks and stares sadly up at him. 

"She's almost here. You have to wake up now." The boy reaches up and rests his palm against Hawks' forehead and repeats himself again. 

"Wake up." In his arms, the boy begins to crack like a porcelain doll. Hawks' body begins to go numb and right as the woman reaches them, she shatters like a burst of ice and blinding white overtakes Hawks' vision. 

Hawks lets out a sigh and rubs at his eyes. He decides to stay up, if he goes back to bed- it'll only mess up his sleeping schedule some more. Working up the motivation, he finally rolls out of bed and searches for a pair of jeans and tugs them on. 

A piece of paper catches his attention and his heart stutters as he recognizes the same handwriting from before. This time, the sender didn't bother with an envelope and just slid a small sheet of paper under his door. 

How much of the truth can you handle? Red words stare back up at him asking him a question that he has no answer for. 

"Hey you're not mad about last night, are you?" Himiko rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet and blinks up at Hawks with a smile.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you." Her smile melts off and she crosses her arms.

"You are mad! We weren't even going to kill you, we just wanted to have some fun. It gets so boring down here!"

"I can get fired if I keep talking to you, good bye." Hawks begins to walk away and there's an empty thud against Himiko's window.

"I just wanna love, live and die my way. My normal way. Is that so hard to ask for? Why do I have to pay for something that I didn't even ask for?" Hawks doesn't answer her, he's busy asking himself the same question. 

Why indeed.

He shares a nod in acknowledgment with Spinner. Hawks doesn't stop to talk though, he knows that someone is watching his every move and he needs this job. Kurogiri is gone along with Jin and surprisingly Shigaraki. Hawks can only hope that they're not being locked up somewhere and being tortured by scientists in neatly pressed white lab coats.

A wave of heat hits Hawks in the face and he looks up from the ground to see he's standing in front of Dabi's cell. There's no sly remark from the demon in the cell and instead only greets him with a low and gravely growl. 

"Yeah, hi to you too." Hawks grumbles and turns around, making his way back to the surveillance room. 

Rumi shifts against the hard plastic of the chair in the break room and she runs a finger up and down the length of her water bottle, leaving a trail in the perspiration.

"I tried talking to Director Todoroki about last night and just warning you, he's pretty pissed." 

"Understandable." Hawks mumbles, he's nursing a cup of coffee- the thought of food is enough to make him feel sick. 

"You're going to have to be really careful. I know he's got a few of the office workers from upstairs watching you. Not to mention Sajin."

"Yeah, he paid me a visit last night at three in the damn morning." Rumi pauses and shakes her head with a sigh.

"Jesus. What did he want?" How much can Hawks trust Rumi with? They've only known each other for a little over a week but he figures that she might be able to help him understand some of the mystery that's been overtaking his life since he decided to walk in for a job application.

"Apparently," Hawks frowns and takes a sip from his coffee, it tastes stale and there's some grounds that float around in the warm liquid. He sets it back down and runs his tongue over his teeth, dislodging some of the grounds. "My dad worked here with the old director, Sajin wanted to know why I didn't let them know about that when I applied." 

"Your dad worked with Director Yagi?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't even remember him. How am I supposed to know where he worked?" Hawks groans and rests his head against the wooden surface of the table. There's a pat on his back and he closes his eyes.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it then. Just keep your chin up, this'll pass over." Hawks hums and listens as Rumi shifts again in her seat. He turns his head and openly studies her, she seems to be nervous about something.

"How well did you know Director Yagi?" She stops moving and traces the grain of the wood.

"I didn't really know him personally."

"Oh." Hawks feels disappointment bloom inside of him and he frowns. Rumi lifts her finger from the table and taps her cheek thoughtfully, staring at a corner of the break room.

"Miss Midoriya knew him pretty well though. I bet that she could answer any questions you might have."  

"Good morning, Hawks." Inko greets him cheerfully and he returns her smile, leaning against her desk.

"Good morning! Hey, I have a quick question." He pretends to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck and from the corner of his eye- he watches her closely. Her eyes widen and she nods, looking serious.

"Of course, I can try my best to answer your question." Hawks nods and faces her again, smiling pleasantly and takes in a deep breath, making sure that there's no one else in the lobby with them.

"Well, you see, it's probably something that's best discussed outside of work." Inko blankly studies him before she owlishly blinks, Hawks clears his throat. 

"It's nothing bad, I just have some questions," He lowers his voice and leans forward, "About my father. I just found out that he worked closely with Director Yagi. I didn't know him very well but I was told that you knew Director Yagi well and I was hoping that you might've known my father?" Inko thickly swallows and blushes slightly when Hawks brings up her relationship with Yagi. 

"I- well, who was your father?" Hawks meets her eyes and doesn't blink or smile, needing to convey to her the seriousness of their conversation.

"Doctor Kita." 

From how she pales at the mention of his father's name, she understands the gravity of everything. Inko scrambles for a piece of paper and neatly prints out her address.

"I'm off tomorrow, come by after your shift." He nods and thanks her.

A cup of steaming hot tea is placed in front of him and Hawks watches the amber liquid swirl around before stilling. He wraps his hands around the mug and relishes in the warmth, when he was younger- he hated the heat, now he finds himself drawn to anything warm. He wonders if it's a side effect from spending almost all of his time with Dabi in his dream state. 

"Thank you." He bows his head slightly and lifts the cup to his mouth, feeling the steam's tendrils whisper past his face. Inko sits across from him and gently blows on her own cup of tea, glancing at up from over the lip of her mug.

"I wasn't aware that Doctor Kita had any children." He takes a sip and clears his throat.

"It was a surprise to me too. I grew up thinking that my step dad was my actual dad." Inko studies him before she looks away. Hawks watches as her eyes drift to the pictures that hang on her walls and she begins to fidget.

"So what questions do you have?" He starts with innocent questions first, not wanting to scare her away. Soon, Inko is chatting away about memories of his father. He nods and chuckles to her recollections of silly stories. A quick glance to a clock tells him it's nearing noon and he needs to finish up here.

"Thank you for everything, I do have one more question though." 

"Of course." Inko waits for him to continue and Hawks tells himself that if anyone will tell him anything about this, it'll be Inko. Seeing as everyone else who seemed to be involved in Project Nephilim is dead.

"Do you know about anything that my father and Director Yagi had worked on together?" Inko's smile fades a little and she tilts her head.

"Well, they worked on quite a few projects together." 

"Does Project Nephilim sound familiar?" Inko pauses and her eyes widen, she gapes for a second before regaining her composure. 

"I- yes. I remember Toshinori talking about it a few times. I think that I might have something that you might be interested in." Inko excuses herself from the table and Hawks silently studies the photos that line the wall before the front door to her apartment opens a few minutes later. 

A small and sweaty teenager bursts into the dining room and lets out a surprised yelp and drops his book bag when he notices Hawks. Izuku looks like he had just finished up running a marathon and he wipes away at the beading sweat on his forehead. Hawks scrunches his nose, the teen reeks of axe. 

"O-oh! Mr. Hawks! Uh, what are you doing here?" Izuku stutters and shifts from foot to foot. Hawks is about to answer when Inko comes back to the dining room with a box.

"Izuku, you're home early." She smiles at her son and seeing both of them together, they look almost a mirror image of each other. Their only noticeable difference is Inko's lack of freckles. 

"We only had some exams today so we were allowed to leave early." Izuku explains and Inko nods. She motions over to Hawks and introduces them. Izuku gives Hawks a wobbly smile and Hawks politely waves at the teen. 

"It's okay, mom. We've met before, anyway, I gotta get going! Some friends from school invited me to go rollerskating with them." Inko gathers him up in a hug and kisses his forehead.

"Be careful out there." 

"I will, love you mom!" Hawks watches as they say their goodbyes and Inko walks her son to the front door, pestering him that if he needs anything to call her. He smiles and finds himself missing his own unknown mother. Inko comes bustling back into the dining room and picks the box back up from a shelf and sets it in front of Hawks.

"Your father left this with Toshinori, but he was never able to open it. He was never given a key though. If you can find a way to open it, maybe it'll have some answers for you." Hawks thanks her and moves to stand up when the phone begins to ring. Inko excuses herself once more and goes to the kitchen to answer it. There's a short gasp and soon after answering the phone, she enters the dining room again. 

"We have t-" His own ringing cell phone cuts her off and he sees Rumi's contact name pop up. Swiping to answer, he can only hear her screaming from the other side of the phone.

"Hawks! You're needed immediately. Sajin is dead!" Rumi hangs up before Hawks can ask her any questions and he looks up to Inko who's staring back at him with fright in her eyes. 

Chapter Text

"We'll take my car, come on." Inko is already out the door and Hawks runs after her. He feels wrong to leave his father's box behind, but Inko promises that he's welcome to pick it up anytime. The car ride is deathly silent and Hawks can't help but to pick at his sleeve. He shifts uncomfortably, the atmosphere is too foreboding and he feels like he's suffocating. There's no words to be said though, what can he even offer to say after being told of the death of one of his supervisors and one of Inko's friends? 

As they reach the building, a crowd is gathered in front of the parking lot. There's already a news van camped out and a reporter stands in front of the building- giving a live report of the smoking building. Most of the people in the crowd have their phones out and taking videos, others are crying and some are shouting into their phones pleading the dispatch to send ambulances. Inko is forced to park down the block and they run towards the building. Hawks is gruffly thrown to the side as a throng of panicked office workers burst from the front doors. Screams arise when the building gives a thundering shake, support beams groan in protest and windows begin to crack. Fire begins to crawl up the sides of the building and the smoke turns the sky black. He loses Inko in the panicked crowd and he tries to find her, but the sudden evacuation of petrified office workers burst through the front doors.

Hawks feels his heart sink and he pushes through onlookers and workers alike, flashing his security officer badge to make them move. Most people don't listen and he has to shove his way towards the front of the crowd. He doesn't allow himself a beat of hesitation as the doors before him open. 

He's greeted with more shouting from upstairs as the building begins to shake again. Pieces of debris and dust fall from the ceiling and land on his shoulders, the crackle of his radio transceiver flickers to life. Over the radio static, there's shouted orders and sobs. He breaks out into a sprint towards the flight of stairs in the back of the lobby.

He doesn't know what had happened to Sajin but judging from the smoke, he knows that Dabi has something to do with it. Hawks' feels a migraine blossom from behind his eyes. It's then that he notices that his transceiver has been too quiet for the short stretch of minutes it took for him to arrive in the basement of the building. Hawks pushes away the feeling of dread and runs down the long corridor. With the power out, he keeps to the wall. An occasional burst of fire shows him the right way. 

Shigaraki is throwing himself against his door, hoping to get out of his cell again and Hawks continues past him. Jin is in his other form, his massive hands are restrained and he bellows out a scream that shakes the window of his cell. A large vein throbs in his forehead as Jin lunges towards window. 

"We're gonna die!" Himiko shrieks and begs Hawks to let her free. He ignores her, they'll be safe in their cells he has to tell himself. 

Passing by Kurogiri's cell, in the corner of his eye, he can see Kurogiri's misty form sputtering and popping with bursts of gold and violet as if he's trying to teleport out of the cell. Spinner is on the ground of his cell and has his eyes closed in deep concentration, he's mouthing something but Hawks doesn't have time to try to see what he's saying. 

His footsteps pound against the concrete and from the other containment cells behind him, wails of the other subjects fill the air. They're momentarily drowned out by an inhuman shriek that shakes the walls and pieces of the ceiling begins to crumble in some places. Adrenaline pushes Hawks to run faster before a scorching wave of heat rushes down from Dabi's cell and throws Hawks back a few feet. Skidding backwards, he regains his balance. Instantly, his throat goes dry and he begins to cough. Continuing forward, he hears Rumi shouting something. 

Finally, he turns the corner and the sight before him makes him stop dead in his tracks. 

Bodies of charred scientists fill the corridor and everything smells like sulfur and death. Some remnants of blue hellfire clings to the lab coats and with each of Dabi's scream- the fire pulses and crackles. Slight movement catches his attention and to Hawks' horror, some of the burnt scientists are still alive. Blackened and cracked hands twitch and reach towards him, their ruined airways cause each  breath and plea of theirs to come out in rasping clicks- singing the last of their death rattle. 

Through the azure hellfire and hazy smoke, a pair of glowing turquoise eyes lock on to him and the sound of chains rattle as the demon strains against his restraints. The air around both of them clears and in the middle of the containment cell, stands Dabi. His thin shoulders rise up and down with each heaving breath and he opens his mouth wide open. A few of his silver sutures pop around his mouth, leaving a ragged and bloody mess. His pointed teeth are stained with black blood and he shrieks again. A flume of smoke escapes through the demon's nostrils and his furious eyes narrow at Hawks. Lying at his feet is the leftover and smoking remains of Sajin. 

He's frozen to the spot as soon as he makes eye contact with Dabi and a soft voice fills his mind. 

"You will die." Another wave of azure hellfire is summoned and Hawks is roughly grabbed by the shoulder and pulled into an empty cell just as the fire rains down from the ceiling where he had just been standing. 

"Are you out of your goddamned mind?!" Rumi shouts. Her face is covered in soot and blood, tears run down her cheeks and she coughs.

"You're gonna get killed out there!" 

"We're going to get killed just sitting here, we have to leave." Hawks tries to drag her to the door but she shakes her head and refuses to budge.

"It's too dangerous, the second we leave- he's gonna set us on fire!" Another one of Dabi's screams shakes the building and a large chunk of concrete comes crashing down on top of Hawks. As his vision starts to swim, a massive shadow passes their hiding place and continues towards Dabi.

There's a series of shots that are fired in the air and gun power mixes in with the sulfur. As his vision turns dark, the only thing he can hear is the ringing of gun shots and the sobs of Rumi as the coldness of her tears hit his face. 

Flashes of bright white briefly illuminates the inky darkness. From the quick snippets of light, Hawks sees that he's on top of a tower and a lone figure stands with his back towards Hawks.

"Dabi." The demon barely looks over his shoulder and narrows his eyes at Hawks.

"Even when I almost kill you, you still come here to haunt me." Hawks takes a step forward and Dabi shakes his head, "I wouldn't take another step closer if I were you." Hawks listens to his warning and doesn't move. 

"What happened out there?" Another flash of lightening strikes across the dark sky and Dabi chuckles, running a hand through his hair. 

"I wanted to test something." 

"Test what?" Dabi finally fully turns towards Hawks and his frown is grim as Dabi's gaze continues to bore into Hawks' being.

"Your supervisor was going to figure it out, I decided to see if I could contact him through here. It worked," Dabi lets out a dry chuckle- pointed teeth flashing with another strike of lightening, "Who knew?" Black blood begins to seep out from an unseen wound in Dabi's torso and he sighs, closing his eyes. Dabi's storm dies down and light begins to creep along the edges of Dabi's realm and Hawks sees smoke rising from between Dabi's silver sutures in the twilight.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

"Looks like my physical form is taking quite the beating, yeah?" Dabi shrugs and watches as a bullet hole appears in his forearm, earning thick black blood to ooze out slowly, "He's going a little overboard if you ask me." Dabi retorts simply and clenches his fist. Hawks remains silent and Dabi sits down on the edge of the building- letting his clawed feet hang over the edge. 

With careful and slow steps, Hawks moves towards the demon and sits down next to him.

"You never listen, do you?" Dabi snorts, wrapping his arms around himself and staring down towards the ground that lays hundreds of feet below them. They sit in comfortable silence, occasionally black blood will flower from a new hole and Dabi will mend his skin back- leaving the blood to stain his clothes and skin. 

"Are you going to die?" Hawks can't help but to ask, he feels restless and helpless being stuck in Dabi's realm. Dabi glances over to Hawks and shakes his head, a bitter smile plays upon his lips. 

"I cannot be killed or destroyed," He pauses and looks up- a moon slowly comes to existence and it overhangs in the sky. Casting the pair in soft yellow light, "For that is my curse." Hawks moves his mouth to say something- anything, but his silver tongue is failing him. There's a sadness in Dabi's eyes and there's nothing that Hawks can offer to help the demon with his burden. It leaves him with a heavy heart. 

 "Where did things go wrong?" 

"Hmm? I guess I'd have to say when I was created as a monster. You should wake up now." Dabi's voice is low and smooth, there's no emotion behind his statement. For once, Hawks doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want Dabi to stay here alone in his realm, he wants to help but doesn't know how. He feels bad for Dabi, to be stuck in this realm for so long- to see the stark differences between Dabi in his realm and how he is in the waking world, he wonders just how cruel he's been treated. It breaks his heart and he just wants to gather Dabi up in a hug and tell him that everything will be okay. 

He doesn't though because he has no idea if things will turn out okay. 

Another wound blossoms just under Dabi's collar bone and he lets out a soft growl. Hawks hesitates and reaches towards the demon. His hand tentatively hovers over Dabi's shoulder and without a second thought, he rests his hand on the bony shoulder. Dabi tenses under Hawks' touch and gives him a questioning glance. Hawks can feel the heat rolling off of his shoulder and it nearly burns his hand but he soldiers through the uncomfortable heat and gives Dabi his best smile.

"I'll fix this." Dabi's eyes darken and he turns away from Hawks and he feels his smile slip a little.

"There's nothing to fix, don't be a hero. Just wake up and leave me alone."

"Dabi, you don't have to do this." 

"Don't you understand? It's in my blood to bring destruction. You said so yourself, all demons are the same."

"You're not," Hawks gestures to Dabi with his other hand, "This is proof of that. You can change."

Dabi moves away from Hawks' touch and turns around glaring down with pure fury.

"There is no changing who I am. Can't you see that? No matter how much I could try to change, it would never be good enough. People already have their opinion formed of me there's no use in convincing them otherwise. I'll always just be a monster in their eyes."

"Da-" Another bullet hole enters through one of his blue eyes and Dabi blinks away the wound as black blood runs down the left side of his face.

"Leave and never come back." Dabi hisses and as before in their previous talks, he summons fire and blankets Hawks in their scorching rage.

"Oh thank god, you're awake." Hawks blinks up to see Rumi hovering over him. They're in a blindingly white room and there's a soft beeping of a monitor somewhere behind him. He feels groggy and rubs at his eyes, slowly sitting up.

"Where are we?" Rumi leans back and doesn't answer him for a moment, studying him with worried eyes.

"The hospital." She answers in a hushed tone and looks nervously over her shoulder at the door to his room, as if she's expecting someone to burst through the door at any second.

"What happened?"

"Director Todoroki," She pauses again, "Subdued Dabi and then called for an emergency evacuation." Her tone tells him that she's hiding something but he doesn't push Rumi to explain any more. Rumi keeps fidgeting in her seat and it's starting to make Hawks anxious, he runs a hand down the thin hospital sheet and bunches it up in a knot.

"I just got done getting poked and probed by the doctors and as soon as they said I was good to go, I came here right away." She picks up a small envelope and hands it to him, still watching him carefully.

"This was on your chest when I got here." He takes the envelope and doesn't make a move to open it, wanting to throw it across the room and go back to sleep. Rumi looks like she's about to say more when her phone cuts through the silence and she excuses herself. Once she left the room, Hawks eyes the envelope and opens it with a soft sigh.

If you value your life, meet me at the old glass factory as soon as you wake up. They know.

A simple two sentence letter fills him with panic and he throws his legs over the hospital bed. Ripping out the IV from his wrist, he throws on his clothes and shoots off towards the window. He's on the second floor and he doesn't think twice when he jumps out of the window. His legs buckle from underneath him and his bare feet cry out in pain as he lands in gravel. Ignoring the pain, he begins to run.

Up in his room, the door bursts open with Director Todoroki and Rumi following quickly behind him.

"Where is he?" He turns to Rumi, his voice is low and dangerous. She says nothing as she looks out the window and sees Hawks disappear down an alley. She can only watch as Director Todoroki pulls out a phone and begins to dial a number. 

Hawks quietly enters the glass factory and sneezes from the dust that rises when he pushes the doors open. It's deathly silent and Hawks feels his way along the wall, unable to see in the foreboding darkness. 

"I'd say that it's nice to see you again, but I think the both of us can agree that this is rather a poor situation to meet under." A monotone voice speaks softly behind him and a figure materializes from the darkness. There's a dry chuckle and the figure pulls the hood of his black jacket down- revealing two glowing and mismatched eyes.

"You?"

"I think it's time to explain." Shouto answers and motions Hawks to follow him deeper into the warehouse. Even through the winding turns of climbing staircases, Hawks feels like something is watching him from the shadows. After reaching the fourth floor of the abandoned factory, Shouto stops and opens a door. There's a small lamp in the middle of the room, its weak light throwing the room into dancing shadows as Shouto sheds his jacket and leans against the wall. In the small room, Hawks can smell the familiar burning of sulfur- only it's not as strong.

Hawks pats down his pants for a pack of cigarettes, needing something to calm his mind. Shouto shakes his head and produces a pack of cigarettes from a pocket, he holds them in his left hand and studies them before they burst into flames. The overwhelming smell of a whole pack of cigarettes burning fills the air and Shouto drops the burnt remains to the ground. Hawks is at a loss for words and his hands fall limply to his side. They continue to watch each other before Hawks clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck.

"You-" 

"I didn't want to reveal myself this early," Shouto tilts his head and smiles wryly, "But, time is running out. It's just a matter of where to start explaining."

"Preferably from the beginning." Hawks can't help but to retort and Shouto shakes his head.

"It's not that simple. Even I don't know the beginning." Shouto pulls out a chair from a dark corner and sits down, Hawks continues to stand- ready to bolt if Shouto tries anything, Shouto notices and snorts.

"I won't be setting you on fire like my brother likes to do," Hawks feels his heart stutter and he takes a step forward, "Don't give me that look, Hawks. Let me explain before you start questioning everything." He clamps his mouth shut and waits for Shouto to explain. Shouto leans against the back of the chair and takes in a deep breath.

"Where's the box that Inko gave you?" 

"How do you know about that?" Shouto pauses and studies Hawks before he crosses an ankle over his knee, leaning forward.

"That's for another day. We don't have time, where's the box?"

"At her place," Hawks reluctantly answers and Shouto nods.

"Okay, it's safe there. I'll get that for you later." There's another pause and Shouto stands up, pacing towards the boarded up window. Weak beams of moonlight filter through the cracks in the window and Shouto turns around again. Somewhere past the door and in the darkness, he picks up on a soft sigh. It's as light as the wind and he convinces himself that it's just that. 

"While your father and the old director were researching their project, my own father led his own experiments behind everyone's back. He was tired of being in Director Yagi's shadow and wanted nothing more than to be recognized for his own research but he was constantly surpassed by Director Yagi. Through his people, he learned of Project Nephilim and was outraged that your father was chosen to lead the project instead of him.

So, he began his own research. He wanted something that nobody before had tried. Something that would grant him power, riches and the title he wanted so badly in life. He was going to be the first ever to harness and control the powers of a demon." There's a sinking feeling in the pit of Hawks stomach and he thickly swallows.

"The demon he summoned was none other than Dabi. Being anchored to this world, he was forced to be subjected to my father's training. He was going to be the world's first 'tamed' demon. That didn't really work out too well, as you can tell. However, my father had an idea- thanks to your father and Director Yagi. If he couldn't control a full demon, how about a possession?

He turned against his own family. I had two older siblings- a brother and sister. He started with them first. Forcing Dabi to posses them, they couldn't withhold him and died shortly afterwards. My sister lasted the longest," Shouto pauses and looks off into a corner, "I was told that she suffered for two weeks. She was only nine."

"Jesus." Hawks whispers and Shouto smiles grimly.

"After both of his children died, my father couldn't even look at Dabi anymore. Deeming him as a failure, my father threw him in here and made up some story about how he had killed some kids that summoned him and was thrown into his cell to live there for an eternity. 

My mother was broken over the loss of her two children and desperately wanted another child to fill the void in her heart. My father refused to have another child, telling her that there was no point. She didn't listen and took matters into her own hands. She summoned a demon and offered her soul in exchange for a child." Shouto runs a hand through his hair and takes in a deep breath. 

"Nine months later, I was born in a middle of a huge blizzard that devastated all of Japan and there was a nationwide power outage. While she was granted her child, in the end, she didn't survive long enough to even hold me." A soft sob and shuffling of feet interrupts Shouto and his eyes narrow, looking past Hawks' shoulder.

"Now she's nothing but broken remnants. Her soul was cursed to walk this world forever in retribution for her greed." 

"I had a dream-" Hawks doesn't know how to continue but Shouto nods and sits back down on the chair.

"Yes, shattered memories of her is bound to me and every night she tries to kill me in my dreams. It's ironic, she wanted a baby so bad and now she tries anything in her power to kill me." 

"Was that your own realm?"

"No. I don't know how you got your way into that dream, but I do not have realms. Only nightmares." The sobbing climbs to a wail and Shouto shakes his head.

"I suppose in her own twisted way, she looks out for me. You're going to have to leave. Someone is coming." Shouto stands up and presses a card into Hawks' hand.

"Your apartment isn't safe. Go to this location, you'll be safe there for the time being. Take the back exit out of here. I'll get that box for you." 

"Why are you helping me?" Shouto begins to dematerialize back into the darkness and gives him a ghost of a smile.

"Us half breeds have to stick together." With his last parting words, the wailing fades along with Shouto and Hawks is left in the empty room. 

The window slides open and Shouto climbs through, startling Hawks.

"Sorry for the delay, got caught up in something. Here's the box." Hawks takes the box and looks back up to Shouto.

"I wasn't given a key."

"You don't need one." 

"I don't have x-ray vision, I can't see what's inside." Hawks rolls his eyes and Shouto takes the box back and raises an eyebrow.

"Watch." With his left hand, he heats up the lock- it turns bright red and Shouto grabs hold of the lock and twists it, the molten metal melts into his hand and dribbles down between his fingers and splatters into the cheap hotel carpet. Hawks takes back the box and opens it, all that's inside is an old cassette player, several tapes and a small book. Shouto peers into it for a moment before heading back to the window.

"Good luck, Hawks." Shouto murmurs and leaves. 

Hawks picks up the cassette tape labeled with the number one and inserts it into the player.

"Day one of Project Nephilim." Doctor Kita's voice crackles through the speakers and Hawks sits down on the edge of his bed.

"I have met with the angel today, she seems unresponsive to all attempts of communication. Nonetheless, she's remarkable and my only wish is that she could understand the importance of her containment here." There's a soft sigh and the shuffling of papers before Doctor Kita continues.

"We have successfully extracted some of her DNA. Not wanting to harm her, we took a clipping of her hair and received the DNA through that. I will continue to update once an embryo has been created in the lab. Doctor Kita signing out." The player pauses before it continues.

"Day ten." There's a soft and frustrated sigh, "There has been no significant progress in Project Nephilim. Her DNA has refused to take hold of the human DNA. I have extracted DNA from her skin in hopes of a better result. Doctor Kita signing out."

"Day thirteen. Still no significant progress. There is still hope though, we have tried various extraction points from her and have merged them with human DNA. I have been monitoring over them carefully these past few days and it seems like some of them have accepted the splice. Others, have not merged and have been properly discarded. Doctor Kita out."

"Day twenty presents a remarkable discovery, out of fifteen trials- one is successful. Trail sixteen is growing at a rapid rate and there is already a recorded heartbeat despite being spliced two days ago. I will continue to monitor both the angel and trail sixteen. Doctor Kita out." There's a long pause before the next recording plays.

"Day twenty-one. I record this day with a heavy heart. Trail sixteen has perished. We do not know the cause for the sudden death of trial sixteen and will examine it thoroughly to find the cause. Doctor Kita out."

"Day thirty and all of the trials so far have expired before reaching two weeks. After fully inspecting and dissecting each trial, we can reach no conclusion for the source of death. The subjects are too delicate and often tear. They're more fragile than a piece of tissue. I will personally be conducting the splice tomorrow morning. Doctor Kita out."

"Day fifty and there is still no progress. We have put a hold on Project Nephilim for the time being, I will be conducting a series of experiments on the angel to find the source of exactly why her DNA will not take hold. I hate to do it, we have already cut into her enough and there's something in her eyes that saddens me. We will continue with this however, the advancements of humanity is important and I have the feeling that she holds the key to this. Doctor Kita out."

The player spits the first tape out and Hawks reaches for the third tape, wanting to skip over Doctor Kita's next tape. He doesn't want to hear about the experiments that were conducted on his mom.

"Day two hundred and fifty-six. Assistant Director Todoroki has learned of Project Nephilim. There must've been someone on my team that has told him of it. I have promptly fired my whole team and will be continuing by myself now, this is now strictly confidential and under no circumstance, is anyone besides myself and Director Yagi is to know about our project.

Assistant Director Todoroki has confronted me, I had refused his offer to assist. If there is a possibility anyone merging angels and humans together, it's up to me and me alone. Doctor Kita out."

"Day two hundred and eighty-one, I have decided to name the angel Kayako. I do not know how much longer she is going to last, she has been refusing to eat and is withering away at an alarming speed. We have been forced to resort to hooking her up to a feeding tube to keep her alive.

Recently, she has come to me in my dreams. Only there, does she talk to me. She has been begging me to let her free. I-" There's a long pause and Hawks wonders if the tape is corrupted before Doctor Kita continues again, "We have made a mistake in thinking that this is possible. Doctor Kita out."

Hawks continues to listen to his father's recordings. With each tape, Doctor Kita grows more and more resigned and desperate. He continues to talk about how Kayako visits him every night in his dreams and how he wants nothing more than to call off Project Nephilim and free her. 

Towards the end of the final tape, Doctor Kita speaks urgently into the tape.

"Day one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five. It's been exactly five years since the start of Project Nephilim. Over these five years, I have been met with constant failure and ridicule. Despite Director Yagi's orders, I will continue no more. I cannot torture her anymore. Not like this, not when I love her.

I have devised a plan to get her out. As soon as I act upon it, I will be one of the most wanted men in Japan but I do not care. With her, I will be safe. Director Yagi, I am sorry. Kita Hiroto, out."

None of his father's tapes had even mentioned him, he supposes that makes sense. If Project Nephilim had started in 1990 and ended in early 1995, he wouldn't have been alive then. A small thought worms its way into his mind and he knits his eyebrows.

If Project Nephilim ended before he was born, that must've meant that his father continued to experiment after he left with his mother. He sets down the player and reaches for the book. 

Leafing through most of it, it seems to be a journal his father had kept over the span of a few years. He reaches towards the end of the book and looks at the last entry.

December 28th, 1995,

Today, my son has been born. I can't believe it, I'm a father! He looks like his mother in every way and he is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. Kayako and I have decided to cut his wings to keep him safe. It's such a shame, they're the most brilliant red. The procedure won't hurt him. I'll make sure of it. I'm still saddened by having to remove Kayako's wings as well, she says she doesn't miss flying but I can see it in her eyes. Perhaps it's best to remove my son's wings before he can fly- that way he'll never know the feeling of flying and won't miss it. Kayako refuses to tell me his true name, saying that it's too much power in a true name and I agree. I have taken to calling him Hawks. He is perfect in every way, more than I could ever hope for.

It has been six months since we moved to Kyushuu. This move is a blessing, nobody this far up north knows of us. Perhaps, we've just been lucky that we haven't run into any officials. We will be safe here.

Turning the page of his father's last entry- a bright carmine feather falls out and lands gently on his lap. 

Chapter Text

Hawks' hands curl around the downy soft feather and he holds it close to his heart. Mourning for a life he never had a chance to live. Listening to his father's audio logs leaves him with an empty and confused feeling. How is he supposed to feel and process everything? Hawks comes to the conclusion that his father was nothing but a monster, willingly operating and cutting open an angel just to advance humanity? Anger begins to fester within his heart and he glowers at an unassuming corner of the room. 

His mother was just as much as a fool as his father, what even possessed her to stay with him? She had a chance to fly and be free yet she allowed his father to remove her wings? 

"He was wrong." Hawks mutters and looks back down at the small feather. Even if he never had the chance to fly and truly be free, finally after all these years- he knows what had been missing in his life. 

His freedom. 

For the first time in a month, Hawks has no dreams and doesn't visit Dabi in his realm. Instead, all that surrounds him is suffocating darkness.

His eyes slowly crack open and for a moment, he stays still- confused why he isn't at his apartment. As his eyes slowly adjust to the moonlit room, a dark figure gets his attention. Hawks bolts up in bed and a freezing hand clamps down over his mouth.

"Shh." Its raspy voice comes out as a slither and Hawks can see a puff of breath from behind him. His heart begins to thunder against his rib cage as the hand tightens for a second- its ice cold nails bite into his skin before letting go.

"We have to go." There's a soft hiss from behind him before it fades away and Hawks blinks up at Shouto who's standing at the foot of his bed.

"You could've let me know like a normal human and not scare the living shit out of me like that." The smallest smile flickers over Shouto's features before he moves towards the window and motions Hawks to follow.

"You were dead asleep. Besides, where's the fun in being a normal human, when neither of us are a human to begin with?" Shouto points to the box and Hawks picks it up and follows Shouto and steps out into the silent spring night.

They move under the cover of darkness, Shouto makes an occasional turn down a derelict alleyway and Hawks complies without too much complaining. There's always a soft white light in the corner of his eye that fades away if he dwells on it for too long, always dancing in and out of view. Hawks can't take the silence for much longer and he clears his throat, doing his best to ignore the white wispy light to his left.

"So," Shouto stops and glances over his shoulder at Hawks before taking a right- Hawks close behind him, "Is this what kids do these days? When I was your age," Hawks trails off and shakes his head, "Uh, never mind."

"No, please continue. I'd love to have a history lesson right now." 

"Good to see kids still have attitude problems." Hawks mutters under his breath and shudders as the white light floats near him and a gust of cold air envelopes him. 

"I thought you said she only comes to you in your dreams?" They stop in front of a small building and Shouto pulls open the door.

"It's three in the morning, this is the only time she can have a form outside of my dreams." He answers flatly.

"She isn't trying to kill you." Hawks observes and Shouto watches him for a moment before looking over at the white light, shaking his head.

"She only does that in my dreams. Like I said, only broken memories of her remain. Maybe when she has a physical form- she still clings to who she used to be instead of a murderous spirit. Never thought to ask her." 

"She can talk?" 

"No." Hawks rolls his eyes, restraining to say anything else in order to escape another blast of cold air from the spirit.

They enter a small room that's set up similarly to a run down motel room. Shouto is already turning towards the door to leave and Hawks sits down on the thin mattress with the box at his side.

"How much longer do I have to hide like this?" Shouto pauses at the door, his hand tightens around it and he turns around- looking Hawks straight in the eye.

"Until my father is dead." Without another word, Shouto leaves and Hawks stares at the door. He finds himself asking where in the hell did his life turn so upside down? Dabi's words float in his mind, 'When I was created as a monster.' Right, Hawks is sure that he could also apply that quote to his life. As he drifts back asleep, he figures that his various foster parents throughout the years have been right all along. He really is a monster. 

The house he's in is deathly silent and all of the lights are off. Despite the bright and sunny day, there's not a beam of sunlight to be seen in the house at all. Hawks is able to see around the small room if he squints and he notices that it's relatively bare and almost unnaturally clean- not a speck of dust to be seen. A threadbare sofa sits flushed against a staircase that leads up to the second floor and in front of him is an archway that goes into the kitchen. A television across from the well worn sofa flickers on, it's on mute and the pictures are in black and white. 

He stares, transfixed by the television and its flickering images. It's showing him snippets of his childhood and seeing it through a third person view draws him in closer. A single word begins to flash across the dim screen and on the second flash, he finally understands what it says. Monster. Soon, that singular word takes up the whole screen and keeps flashing at him until he takes a step backwards- disgusted. 

Hawks pauses and looks over his shoulder- up towards the looming darkness of the second floor. He can't shake the feeling of being watched and the hairs on the back of his neck are standing on end. He begins to move away from the staircase when he hears a crinkle of a candy wrapper being crumpled up. Hawks doesn't move and a bright amber colored wrapper drops and bounces down the staircase, with each bounce- its crinkle sounds off like a gun shot. As it lands on the second to last stair, it stills and silence envelopes the house once more. Slowly, his eyes lift up towards where it came from and nearly bites down on his tongue when he sees long grey fingers wrap around the wall from upstairs. 

Bird-like talons dig into the wooden wall before the hand creeps forward, slowly getting closer to the stair banister. He's able to see the thin wrist and spindly grey arm that shoots out from the darkness. A dry chuckle rings out softly above him as the fingers wrap around the banister and pulls the being closer to the stairs.

Through the darkness, gold eyes glint dangerously as they study Hawks. There's more scraping and suddenly, the whole second floor corridor is alight with dozens of red eyes that peer back at him with hunger. Chattering fills the heavy air and they turn muffled as the golden eyed monster finally pulls itself into the light. He towers over the others behind him and he clicks his massive bird beak shut.

A dusting of brown feathers begin around at the base of his beak and go down the length of his neck, covering almost his whole body but stopping at his elbows which thin out gradually until only showing the sickly grey skin. Well muscled and scaly legs walk into view, Hawks watches as they bend backwards and the massive talons of his toes click against the wooden floor. The monster pauses and tilts his head, the largest toe of his foot clicks and digs down into the floor's grain. 

A tiny, knee sized bird bursts from behind the towering monster and bobs its head a few times, studying Hawks with bright crimson eyes. Its small beak opens and shuts a few times before it jerks his head up to look at the monster above it.

"Looks like this one lost his wings, boss." Its tiny chattering is whispered almost as sweetly as the morning sparrows that sing outside of Hawks' window, but its unbridled glee is making Hawks nervous.

"What a shame." The massive monster finally speaks- his voice is low and smooth. He speaks eloquently and sounds bored. His small friend hops forward and clacks his beak together a few more times. Hawks watches as the tall monster steps fully into the light and spreads his enormous mousy brown wings- shrouding Hawks' sight of the other blinking red eyes behind him. Long primary feathers reach up towards the ceiling and brush against it. 

"What a shame," He repeats, quietly this time and blinks down at Hawks, "I've no use for the broken. It is time for you to perish, Hawks." With that, the monster steps back into the darkness as hordes of other bird monsters burst from the darkness and scramble down the stairs towards him. Hawks turns on his heel and makes a bee line towards the front door. It slams shut and he's locked inside the dark house with the monsters behind him.

As sharp talons and beaks dig into his back, Hawks' screams are drowned out by the monsters' cackles. There's a second's pause and everything goes numb as Hawks' vision begins to fade in and out. He clenches his eyes closed and prays for anything to stop the excruciating pain. Hawks feels his heart lurch and a headache blooms between his temples. 

Everything goes quiet save for slow footsteps approaching from the kitchen, its claws click against the linoleum as it leisurely strolls forward. The monsters stop digging into his body and turn around towards the intruder. Hawks curls into himself and there's a quiet sigh from the kitchen.

"Still up to no good, I see." Dabi's soft baritone cuts through the silence, suddenly, the monsters around him burst back to life and they let out a screech of rage. Before they can take a step his direction, they're engulfed in blue hellfire and quickly turn to ash. 

Hawks turns around slightly and sees Dabi standing in the middle of smoking remains, both hands in his pants' pockets. Bathed in his fire's light, his silver sutures are a cobalt blue and Dabi says nothing as he walks towards Hawks. 

"What are you doing here?" Hawks manages to ask, the gaping cuts in his back scream in protest and he lets out a hiss. Dabi's eyes flicker from Hawks and to his back, narrowing slightly before he shakes his head.

"You need to stop worming your way into other's dreams because it's going to cost you your life one of these days." An overwhelming smell of bleach fills the room and Dabi scrunches his nose, "You would end up in his dream realm." He mutters and a tall shadow materializes from behind Dabi- easily towering over him. Dabi turns around and greets the shadow like an old friend.

"I'll be damned. Chisaki, here I thought that we killed you the first time. Good to see you're still kicking." Chisaki narrows his eyes and shoots out a thin hand out that grazes against Dabi's right arm. It instantly explodes into a mass of blood and broken bone fragments. Dabi stumbles back slightly and lets out a low hiss.

"Jesus, fuck. I see you're still pissed about last time." Dabi's right arm melds back into existence and Hawks watches in sick fascination as bone pieces back together with muscle and tendons twining to the bone until his skin grows over the newly formed arm- smoke smoldering in some places. His jacket sleeve doesn't grow back and Dabi's arm flexes experimentally, lean muscle ripples from underneath his skin. Dabi glances up from his new arm and back to Chisaki, rolling back his shoulders.

"Guess you want a round two?" More eyes appear from upstairs, Chisaki melts back into the shadows with a grin and Dabi sighs, "Now that's not very fair." He glances over his shoulder at Hawks with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't suppose you can summon some friends?" 

"What?" Dabi swiftly steps to the side as a monster lunges at him, it stumbles and he presses a clawed foot over its head- squeezing as a trail of fire runs down Dabi's body and coats the monster. 

"You're really gonna make me fight all of 'em by myself? I'm flattered and all, but even I have limits. Do the thing."

"What thing?" Hawks kicks at another monster and without turning, Dabi sends a fireball towards it.

"The thing!" Dabi shouts over his shoulder, waving a hand around impatiently.

"Thanks for the clarification." Hawks mutters.

"Just close your fuckin' eyes and think, shouldn't be too hard for you." Dabi growls and stomps his foot down, sending a wave of hellfire towards a group of screaming monsters. Scratching from upstairs gets both of their attention and hundreds of eyes glow from the darkness. Dabi beings to curse under his breath and a monster flies by, racking its claws across his cheek- giving him a half of a chelsea grin. Black blood oozes from the wound and dribbles onto his white shirt. Seeing Dabi take so much damage because of him makes Hawks feel guilty, there's a painful lurch in his heart and a sharp pain that explodes within his head. As Hawks grips the side of his head, a blur of red flashes past him. Standing between Dabi and the hordes of monster, three figures pick themselves up from the floor and look around in bewilderment. Dabi whirls around and motions to them with exasperation.

"Really? You summon the ones that tried to kill you?" True to his word- Shigaraki, Himiko and Jin glance from Dabi and Hawks and towards the rushing monsters.

"The fuck?" Shigaraki whispers, rounding towards Dabi, "What did you do?" The two begin to bicker as Himiko jumps up and waves to Hawks with a wide smile.

"Hi Hawks!" Jin keeps looking to and fro between the monsters and shuffles around on his feet.

"I really don't wanna be here. I can't wait to kick some ass! Please let me go back. Fuck that!" Jin doubles over and with a short shout, his form begins to bubble and soon a hulking mass stands in his place. Without hesitation, Jin throws himself into the throng of monsters.  

With the odds evened out a little bit, they slowly begin to gain the upper hand. As more of the avian like monsters begin to die out, Dabi lets out a sigh of relief. Hawks stumbles to his feet- ignoring the searing pain on his back. Suddenly, there's a crash from upstairs and all five of them stop moving and look to the ceiling as thundering footsteps make a dash towards the stairs. 

A massive figure drenched in black liquid screams at them, its beak stretches and pops out of place as several arms sprout from its back. Glowing gold eyes glare down at them and it jumps from the second floor landing and towers over even Jin in his second form. Dabi throws up his hands as the contorted monster takes a step towards them.

"Congratulations Hawks, you made me hate my life more than I thought I could." Shigaraki glances over from Dabi and to Hawks, crimson eyes studying him with a look of pure fury before a hand swings at him- making Shigaraki crash through a wall. 

"Stay on your toes!" Himiko sings, laughing as she dances out of the monster's flailing arm. Jin lets out a growl and rushes at Chisaki. They exchange bone shattering blows as the other three begin to whittle away at Chisaki's lower part of his body. Occasionally, a bubbling and distorted hand will sweep around the ground- making Dabi, Himiko and Shigaraki scatter for a moment before regrouping. Dabi doesn't dodge an arm in time and is sent flying backwards. He crashes somewhere behind Hawks and he grits his teeth together. Ever since he somehow summoned Himiko, Jin and Shigaraki- his migraine has increased tenfold and his vision doubled.

Swaying on his feet, he looks behind him and can only see the hole in the wall from Dabi and more pain begins to blossom throughout his body. If Chisaki's deformed and powered up form can take out Dabi, they're going to be in deep shit. Panic begins to claw its way up Hawks' throat and he turns back to glower at the giant monster. He watches as Chisaki swings another arm, Himiko lets out a yelp and is thrown off balance. Shigaraki reaches out with a hand and part of Chisaki's form disintegrates before healing again. One of Chisaki's hands catches Jin's incoming fist and like what he did with Dabi, Jin's fist explodes and he stumbles back with an earsplitting scream. 

Hawks' migraine begins to migrate towards the front of his head and another flash of red appears, at his feet lays a military grade pistol. It doesn't look like much but Hawks knows the bullets inside of the gun are heavy tranquilizers that could even put the devil, himself, to sleep. Bending down with shaking hands, it takes him a second to pick up the gun. Hawks blinks, trying to get rid of his double vision but it only makes things worse and he starts to feel dizzy. Raising the pistol, it sways dangerously in his grasp. Lining up his target as best as he could Hawks is about to pull the trigger when a mottled purple hand with silver stitches snatches it away from his grasp and steadies the aim.

"You really piss me off." Dabi mumbles to Chisaki and pulls the trigger in rapid succession. Dabi doesn't react to the pistol's recoil, Hawks follows his gaze and sees several entry wounds in Chisaki's hulking body. Dabi side eyes Hawks with a wry smile and tosses the empty pistol to his feet.

"Feels good to be the one that's shooting instead of being shot at for once." Chisaki lets out a muted scream before his body begins to bubble and under all the black liquid, lies his original form- riddled with bullet holes. While Himiko is busy consoling Jin and his lost hand, Shigaraki stalks over to them and points a bone thin finger accusingly at Hawks.

"I don't appreciate being summoned like a pet." Shigaraki is keeping a calm presence but Hawks can feel the frustration rolling off in waves from him. Hawks blinks at Shigaraki for a moment.

"Well I don't appreciate that you tried to kill me earlier." Dabi gives a low whistle and crosses his arms, looking from between Shigaraki and Hawks.

"Feisty." Hawks turns from Shigaraki and glares up at Dabi.

"Get me out of here." Dabi holds up his hands in mock surrender and shrugs.

"You're the one that got me and them in here. You let us out, I can't do shit." 

"Then what do I do?" 

"I dunno, wake up?" 

"I can't wake up!" 

"I'll give you something to wake up to." Shigaraki mutters and reaches a hand towards Hawks, as soon as all five fingers rest against his face- he can feel himself starting to crumble. Shigaraki turns to Dabi.

"Why do you make things so difficult?" 

"I wanted to s-" His answer is cut short and Hawks chokes on ash- vision fading to nothing.

Hawks jolts awake, his back is still screaming out in pain but that doesn't catch his attention. What does, is the lack of a bloody nose and four bright red secondary feathers that lay against the mattress. 

Chapter Text

A week passes by and Hawks is still cooped up in the small room, Shouto never fails to pop by in the early morning before the sun's rays stretch across the grey sky. Sometimes, he gives magazines or books to Hawks to keep him from losing his mind but most of the time- he's just dropping off food.  

Since that night, Hawks has refused to sleep. Dark circles cling close to his eyes and even the simple act of blinking makes him doze off for a moment before he jolts back awake. In the corners of his confinement, he'll spy moving shadows and the dimensions of his room begins to warp and twist due to lack of sleep. Blinking it away only seems to make his hallucinations worse and his mood plummets, it doesn't help that he's been forced to quit smoking on the drop of a dime either. 

Hawks begins to lose track of time and every waking hour- his bed sings out to him, trying to lull him back into sleep. He does his best to ignore it, wanting to avoid being stranded in Chisaki's realm again. What if next time, no help comes to his aid? What if last time was just a fluke? At this point though, he has to ask himself if it's better staying alive like this or dying. The line is beginning to blur and he isn't sure anymore. He spends his time pacing and talking to himself, always holding a feather close to him. Reminding him that there's an outside world; he wishes more than anything that he had at least a window to look out of. 

"When was the last time you slept? You look terrible." Shouto observes, dropping a plastic bag on the floor and eyeing him. Hawks waves a hand in the air and chuckles.

"Sleep is for the weak." Shouto only raises an eyebrow and slowly nods. 

"I see." He replies flatly and walks towards him, Hawks dances away moving around the room in a dream like daze- his grip on sanity slipped away somewhere on day three without sleep. Shouto stops and sighs, raising a hand- palm facing towards Hawks and ice crawls up from the floor, entrapping Hawks' feet.

"What the fuck?" Hawks mumbles, looking down at his frozen feet and back up at Shouto in confusion. He only shrugs and offers Hawks a smirk.

"I've been doing some training. Looks like I can do more than just manipulate fire, pretty cool- huh?" Hawks refuses to answer and narrows his eyes at Shouto.

"Yeah? Well, you're not the only one with a surprise up your sleeve." He closes his eyes and focuses on a feather underneath his pillow, he can feel it quiver and it shoots out from its hiding place and slices into the ice, quickly shattering it. Shouto quickly recovers from his initial shock and his smile grows, nodding in approval.

"Looks like you're not a complete lost cause like I previously thought." Hawks doesn't answer, the simple act of just summoning the feather pushed his mind from exhausted to shut down mode. His chin droops against his chest and begins to buckle to the floor, Shouto sighs and catches him before he hits the floor and tries his best to drag Hawks over to the bed. He gives up halfway and just throws a blanket over Hawks' sleeping form and quietly leaves the room.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to visit." A soft voice chuckles and Hawks turns to see Dabi sitting on a chair- a slender leg is thrown over one arm of the chair while his elbow is resting on the other arm. His chin is resting against his palm and a sly smile curves upwards as Dabi's pale turquoise eyes look Hawks up and down.

"I was busy."

"Too busy to sleep?" Dabi's smile grows more and Hawks looks away.

"Why do you care?" Dabi's constant shift of moods is beginning to grate on Hawks' nerves. How this demon can go from zero to one hundred in just a short realm visit leaves him confused and seeing Dabi teasing him when before he told Hawks to never visit again is complete bullshit in his book.

Dabi pulls back, surprised, before masking it over again with a crooked grin- his long teeth dig slightly into his purple and grooved bottom lip.

"I don't, I was just curious." Hawks gives out a noncommittal grunt and turns his back to the demon and walks away. 

"Where're you goin'?" Dabi materializes besides him, hunched over and a wide smile growing over his face. Dabi leans in towards Hawks, quickly closing the distance between the both of them. He realizes that just last month he'd be scared shitless at the thought of this demon looming over him, now it fills him with a different feeling. He's always been one to be drawn to danger, like a moth to an open flame. What Dabi can offer is more than danger and Hawks feels like he's getting entrapped in a web that he won't be able to escape from. A small part of him asks if he should even mind that though. A bigger and more logical part of his mind is mortified at the realization of this. Hawks narrows his eyes and stands his ground- refusing to let Dabi intimidate him.

Dabi reeks of burning sulfur, and he has to fight to keep himself from gagging on the overwhelming stench. His dark and spiraling horns disappear into the darkness as Dabi closes the realm around them, Hawks swallows thickly- his claustrophobia beginning to blossom within his core. 

Glowing turquoise eyes study him closely and Hawks takes this time to glower back up at him. Thin black eyebrows shoot up into his hair with amusement and Dabi chuckles. When he smiles, his skin is tugged around the sutures and being this close- Hawks can see several faint scars around where previous staples have previously been ripped out.

"Why are you doing this?" Dabi tilts his head at Hawks question, he takes a step away from Hawks and crosses his arms.

"There is a lot that I do, want to be a little more specific?"

"You're toying with me. You go from acting like you hate my guts to whatever this is," He motions to Dabi, "I'm tired of these games. So, why are you doing this?" Hawks repeats his question and Dabi merely nods, a hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stares unblinking down at Hawks.

"Why would you think that I hate you? I don't hate anyone." Exhausted from constantly running around in circles for Dabi, Hawks feels like the ball is finally in his court and he can feel a sly smile growing as he blinks up at the demon- doing his best innocent impression.

"You don't hate anyone?" 

"None that I can recall." Dabi answers softly.

"Not even Todoroki Enji?" Dabi pulls back at Hawks' smug question and instantly his whole mood shifts, his eyes darken and the atmosphere around the small realm spikes. A high buzzing begins to ring in his ears and after a moment, they pop. Hawks can feel the warm trickle of blood dripping down from his ears but he ignores it, relishing in finally getting under Dabi's skin. 

"If I were you, I'd chose my next words very carefully." Dabi hisses, his voice is low and dangerous, making Hawks' heart stutter. Blue hellfire begins to lick up and down Dabi's thin fingers as he waits for Hawks' next move. He pretends to not notice the fury in his turquoise eyes and continues.

"I should've known, honestly," Hawks tilts his head and gives Dabi a soft smile, "You really do remind me of him." Before he can even finish speaking, Dabi shoots out an arm and gruffly grabs the collar of his shirt, talons biting down into his skin. Giving him a rough shake, Hawks feels his head loll and his neck is sore from being shaken like a ragdoll. Dabi leans down, fire begins to seep from his very being and he can only watch as the azure hellfire pours out of his mouth.

"You do not want to make an enemy out of me." Dabi's voice begins to distort and crackle, it comes out as a low thundering rumble as it reverberates around the small realm. He notes that some of his sutures have popped out of his skin that leaves streaks of black blood running down his thin face. Hawks holds out his hands and chuckles.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" Dabi seems to tower over Hawks as he sneers down at him. The atmosphere around them continues to climb and Hawks finds himself having trouble being able to breathe. Everything is beginning to feel heavy and with each ticking second, he feels more lightheaded. Smoke begins to swirl around the realm as Dabi's fire grows hotter.

"I am nothing like that child killer." Dabi hisses, "Never compare me to him ever again." He gives Hawks one final forceful jolt before letting go, Hawks drops to the ground in a broken heap. Clawed feet obscure his vision and he looks up, Dabi glowers down at him- more sutures have popped out and his mouth hangs widely open, revealing a row of dangerously sharp teeth.

"Next time I won't be so merciful. You better remember that before you act like a fucking idiot again." Dabi extends a hand and a ball of blue fire flickers to life in the middle of his palm before he sends it hurtling down towards Hawks.

When he awakes, he's on the floor with the threadbare blanket wrapped tightly around him. Sweat beads down his back and he twists out of the blanket, exhausted. He can't fight his heavy lids and closes them.

Where he had grown used to Dabi's dark realm, this one is beyond dark. He lifts a hand to his eyes and can't even see it. He feels like he's been thrust into the dark expanse of the Marina Trench. The stench of decay and death fills the air all around him and Hawks can't even breathe, a migraine explodes from behind his eyes as a muffled and deep voice echoes all around him. 

"Puer ab angelis." A ghostly face swims in the darkness, Hawks can only watch in horror as it floats closer to him. Its face is nothing more than pale and welted skin that stretches and contract as if its very skin is breathing. Two hollowed indents rest where its eyes should be, even then, Hawks can still feel its gaze boring deep into his soul. 

"Child of the angels," it slowly repeats in Japanese, "You will bend to my will." It's then that he notices a large and gaping hole that serves as its mouth. Through the inky darkness, he can just barely see the glint of hundreds of small and sharpened teeth that line the insides of its maw. Hawks opens his mouth to speak but a large and freezing cold hand slowly reaches out towards him and clamps tightly around his mouth, silencing him. Its fingers dig into his skin and the points of his nails begin to draw blood, it ignores his pained cries.

"Don't you grow tired of running and hiding? A child born from the greed of humanity, you'll only be regarded as an abomination and a monster for the rest of your life. What a sad way to live, you'll never know peace. Only fear. I can bestow upon you the power to break forth from your hindrance. With my gift, you'll make mortals bow down. Creatures such as you will no longer be tortured at the hand of man. You will rule them, they will break. They will pay for their atrocities, then and only then, will they learn the true vengeance of the immortals. In return of my help- I only ask you of one thing," It pauses and the hand around his mouth tightens, "Go back to facility 0413. There, you will carry out my bidding."

A pulsing dark light crackles to life and flows down the being's arm and into Hawks' mouth. Thousand of tastes spread across his tongue, all terrible in their own way. Scorching heat spreads within his body and behind the being's hand- Hawks beings to scream. Pain explodes throughout his core and it's insurmountable to anything he's felt before. White light begins to dot in his vision and the being fades from existence.  

Hawks falls to the ground and curls into a ball, his screaming doesn't stop as he feels something break out of his back. His pain feels like it continues for an eternity and when it finally subsides, there's a dark chuckle all around him.

"Awake and go forth." 

Hawks' back is screaming out in agonizing pain and he bolts up. He clasps the sides of his head and bites down a pained shout. His mind is fuzzy and the sounds of bones popping fills his ears.

Standing up, a flash of red catches his eyes and looking behind him- he sees enormous wings. For a millisecond, they appear as black as the being's realm. Once he blinks though, he only sees bright crimson feathers. Newfound power warms him and he feels invigorated. Looking down to his hand, he sees black liquid coursing through his veins before they slowly fade from view. A voice begins to speak inside his head and he clings to it. His body picks itself up in short and jerky movements, unstably standing up. It's then when he notices he's not in control of his own body anymore

"Kill the demon that goes by Dabi, he will only steal your power for himself." Hawks nods and swallows thickly. He's never liked Dabi anyway, he will listen to this voice. After all, who needs a washed up demon when he's been blessed with his own power? His lips curl up in a smile on their own accord and he nods, knowing what must be done. With robotic movements, he looks at the box and takes out a lighter. Setting the box and its contents on fire he nods with approval as the fire begins to spread in the room.

Stretching a hand out towards the door, he closes his fist and a flurry of feathers shoot out and pummel against the door, making it blast off its hinges. He looks back down to his hand and begins to laugh. With sinking dread he realizes that he's nothing more than a puppet and the voice in his head- its master.

It's night when he leaves the burning building but he no longer stumbles in the darkness, with his new power- he's able to see everything as clearly as if it was daytime. Before he goes to the facility, he has to make a quick detour. Moving under the cover of darkness, he spreads his wings and takes flight for the first time in his life. Muscles in his back flex powerfully as he continues to fly with the air current. Cold air and rain pelt down on his body but he ignores it, even when a bolt of lightening cracks across the night sky and a clap of thunder vibrates through his body. 

He reaches his apartment and lands, dust swirls up from his landing. A fluffy grey cat bolts from its hiding place and runs up to greet him before it pauses. Golden eyes stare up at him before its hackles rise and it lets out a low hiss, before it bolts away from him. Hawks only coldly smiles down at its escape and enters his apartment. 

Not needing a key, he crashes through the front door of his apartment and looks around. It's ransacked and he rolls his eyes at the strewn contents of his sparse belongings. Taking out his lighter once more, he uses a feather to round up papers and cloth. Once everything is piled in the center of his apartment, a flick of the lighter sets it ablaze. 

Humming softly to himself, he opens the balcony door and steps out to take flight once again. The shrill beeping of the fire alarm begins to set off and startled yells of the other residents fill the night sky. To Hawks, it fills him with dread. To being in his mind, it sounds like a beautiful chorus.

 The emergency breach alarm wails as Hawks bursts through the front doors of the facility and he slowly strolls towards the back stairway. His hands rest in his pockets, whistling to himself as he sends another wave of feathers through the door and enters the corridor. 

Screams of the ones he used to guard die down as he walks past them, they're nothing to him. Just mere ants that'll be quashed if they get in his way. Ignoring their questions, he continues forward. Internally, he prays that none of them try to break out to start anything with him. He's lost control of his movements a long time ago and wants to avoid killing them. 

A flume of smoke escapes through under the crack of Dabi's door and Hawks only chuckles, shaking his head. With a wave of his hand, feathers tear down the talismans and he kicks the silver door open. 

In the middle of blinding hellfire, Dabi watches him carefully. Hawks disregards the glower and leans against the broken doorway, tilting his head and smiling up at the restrained demon.

"You remember how you said not to make an enemy out of you?" He chuckles, "Well, what if I said that you shouldn't have made me an enemy?"

An officer bursts from around the corner and without turning, Hawks sends feathers towards the slight man. Pinning him to the wall, rendering him helpless. His radio transceiver is crackling with Rumi's questions. Another feather shatters the transceiver and the corridor is plunged into deafening silence. 

The disembodied voice begins to speak in his head again, filling his mind with pictures of power and freedom, anything that he could ever ask for is at the tip of his fingers. For a fleeting heartbeat, he pauses. A tiny part of his uncorrupted mind tells him not to kill anyone, demon or not. Taking back control of his own body, Hawks stumbles backwards and before he can try to leave, pain fills his entire body and his limbs stiffen. The being spreads its influence and regains its control, Hawks can only watch in horror as he walks up to the demon. With a flick of his wrist, the silver bindings are broken and Dabi falls to the floor.

Instantly, he lunges towards Hawks. Black talons dig their way into his skin, Hawks peers down at the gaping wound on his arm and watches as black blood runs down his arm. Dabi pauses and studies the blood before snapping his attention up to Hawks. 

"Now, that wasn't very nice of you." Hawks mumbles and takes a step towards the stunned demon. Something inside of his body twists and when he starts to speak again, his voice begins to distort until it's a deep rumble.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Dabi's eyes widen and he crouches down on all fours and hisses, furious blue fire erupts around the two and Hawks can't stop himself from laughing. 

"Look at you, you're a disgrace. You're nothing but an embarrassment and a failure. Your time here is quickly drawing to an end. Good bye, Dabi." Hawks begins to stretch out an arm and as he summons feathers to finish Dabi, a single shot rings out. He jolts forward as the bullet enters his back, turning around, he sees Rumi standing behind him with her pistol drawn. 

"You foolish wo-" Before he can finish, a sea of hellfire consumes him.

"Are you a fucking idiot?!" A hand grabs at Hawks and yanks him up to his feet, cracking his eyes open he's met with Dabi's enraged glare. Hawks struggles against the iron tight vice and Dabi lets go of him, disgusted.

"That wasn't me." Is all Hawks can offer and Dabi barks out a laugh.

"Yeah, no shit dumbass." Hawks watches as the other begins to pace around the room, muttering to himself and running a hand through his black hair. Dabi pauses and looks at him before shaking his head and resumes his restless pacing.

"I-" Hawks starts before he shrinks against Dabi's scowl, "I couldn't control myself." 

"I fucking know." Dabi snaps. He walks back to Hawks and stares down at him. Dabi sighs and squats down next to Hawks.

"What did you do?" He asks quietly, trying to control himself. Hawks rubs the back of his neck and tries to remember.

"He-" Pain shoots down his spine and Hawks squeezes his eyes shut. A burning hot hand rests on his shoulder and it stays there as the pain begins to subside.

"Whatever you did, you really fucked up. He's going to kill you eventually." Hawks slowly looks up to Dabi and blinks, shaking his head.

"He said that I'll be the one to bring down humanity." Dabi only frowns, his eyebrows knitting together and he looks like he's going to say something before he closes his eyes. Retracting his hand, he cradles his forehead and exhales loudly through his nose- a puff of smoke escapes through his nostrils.

"You really are an idiot. King of the dumbasses right here." Dabi stands up and begins to pace again. Hawks pushes himself up and sits against the cold wall, shuddering.

"Listen to me real close, Lord Fuckwad. Your body will not be able to contain him and will decay faster than getting caught up in getting caught up in Shigaraki's creepy hands."

"What'll happen to me?" 

"I just said what will happen, are you not listening?" 

"I mean-" Hawks shakes his head, "I, like, where will I go after I'm dead?" Dabi scratches the base of his horn and looks off into space.

"I dunno. After letting yourself get tainted like that, probably hell. That's not important right now though. What is, is the fact that you have to get him out before you do die." 

"How am I going to do that when I can't even control my body?" Hawks feels a surge of frustration bubble up. Dabi's hand moves from the top of his head and travels to the back of his neck. He stares down at Hawks and begins to pick at the sutures on his chest.

"Guess it's a good thing that you got caught here. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to perform experiments on you," Dabi smiles grimly, "Look at it this way, at least you won't have to pay out of pocket expenses." Hawks is about to ask him more questions when more pain sears through his body, Dabi kneels down once again beside him and frowns.

"It seems as if they already started. I'd say it would be best if you stayed here as long as you can, they don't like to use sedatives." Dabi's voice begins to blur together and Hawks reaches a hand out to him, needing something to hold on to. Dabi doesn't move and lets Hawks crawl his way over to him, as he gets closer to the demon- heat rolls off in waves. He basks in the warmth, it numbs the pain clawing throughout his entire body. 

Dabi envelopes him in a soft embrace, gathering Hawks up to his chest. Hawks' vision begins to swim and the room fades in and out of existence. Dabi's grasp tightens for a moment before he looks down at Hawks, bright blue eyes hold an emotion he's never seen in his eyes before. 

"Stay w-" His voice rumbles through his chest and Hawks' loses his hearing as he feels like he's being flayed alive. Dabi's realm fades and soon, instead of the demon's warmth, all that surrounds him is the ice cold grip of nothing.

He jerks against his restraints and lets out a scream as he feels knives digging into him. Struggling, he thrashes around trying to escape from the pain. Somewhere above him, there's a chuckle. 

"You're a wily one, aren't you? Don't worry, you'll be fixed up in no time. Now, hold still for me. It's only going to pinch a little bit." Rounded glasses float into his view and a surgical mask hides the doctor's features but it does nothing to hide the smile in his voice. 

"I'll be your specialized doctor throughout your operation. Now, if you would." The doctor stops speaking and he feels a cut over his chest. Its bite is deep and there's a splash of dark blood. The doctor nods to himself, pulling out a small recorder and flicks it on.

"Incredible," the doctor breathes out, "The residual demon restores any act of incision made on its host. We have weakened the demon thoroughly but in order to fully extract the demon, we will have to cut deeper into Subject 8-1-23-11-19. We will not be providing anesthesia at this time to monitor brain waves. End of note." He pockets the recorder and turns to face Hawks.

"Now," he continues, "let us commence." Hawks tugs at his restrains again and the doctor only clicks his tongue, shaking his head. 

"We don't need any of that. You'll only make things worse." 

"-ure of what you saw?" A voice startles Hawks awake.

"Yes, Director Todoroki." Rumi's muffled voice brings his attention to their conversation and he opens his eyes. Blank ceiling tiles stare down at him and his body feels like it's on fire. He barely turns his head when Director Todoroki dismisses Rumi. As his vision starts to clear up, he sees Director Todoroki looming behind a large window. 

"Subject 8-1-23-11-19, I will be entering your cell. If you resort to any acts of foolishness, know that there are several officers standing guard." Enji speaks with authority and soon, the doors to his cell hiss open.

Hawks moves to sit up but he finds himself restrained around the wrists and ankles. Enji coolly studies him before sitting down on a chair in the middle of the cell.

"I would like you to tell me everything that had transpired over the two weeks that you had been absent. If your account is satisfactory, we may work out a deal with you. For now, I want your side of the story." Hawks weakly nods but when he tries to speak, his throat feels like the desert. Enji hums quietly and opens a bottle of water, drinking it. He watches as a bead of water rolls down the cold water bottle and he thickly. 

"Once you have told me everything, you will be rewarded with water." 

So, Hawks begins to croak out everything. Almost everything, he leaves Shouto and Dabi out of it- not wanting them to pay the price. Director Todoroki stays silent through everything and when Hawks is done, he leaves without a word.  

True to his word, water is delivered to his cell hours later.

Days slowly melt by. Every day, he's met with the same doctor and he's continually cut into. The doctor, who finally introduced himself as Doctor Ujiko, is only pleased with being tasked with experimenting on Hawks. 

"Good morning 8-1-23-11-19," he doesn't pause to let Hawks speak, "Today I will be conducting the full extraction of the parasite's remaining residue within you. Now, follow me." Doctor Ujiko leaves the cell and waits for Hawks, sensing as if this is a test- he slowly rises from his bed and makes his way towards the door. Doctor Ujiko nods with approval and motions him to follow him.

They walk down the silent stretch of the corridor, several guards hang closely behind them. When Hawks passes a cell, he sees the familiar figure of a bird monster standing near the window with narrowed golden eyes. 

Hawks pops into existence and rubs his wrists gingerly. Looking around, it seems that Dabi has cast his realm into the park from one of the first few times Hawks had projected himself into the realm. 
Over the treeline, the red sun is ever present- casting the sky into a spray of pastel hues. There's a burst of bright blue fire and with a crackle, Dabi appears next to Hawks. 

"Y'know, I killed that guard so you wouldn't end up as a lab rat. What do you do? End up in here anyway." Dabi casually remarks, he lifts his hands up behind his head and they continue walking down the small park. A side glance shows a new mark of purple scarring from the rise of his shirt. Hawks knows that he's seen the demon's stomach before and last time it had been unmarred. 

"Is that really why you killed him? I thought you said that you wanted to try something." Hawks mumbles and Dabi pauses for a beat.

"Well, that too."

"Why?" Hawks can't help but to ask, he's always been curious about Dabi's reasoning in life. Dabi stays silent for a long time as they walk. 

"I dunno." He finally answers, he speaks so quietly that Hawks has to strain to hear him even though he's standing right next to the demon. He quickly looks over his shoulder and the purple of his stomach flashes again, Hawks frowns and turns to face Dabi- both stopping to stare at each other.

"I thought you could heal yourself?" Dabi tilts his head in confusion and Hawks motions to the new scarring. Dabi follows Hawks gesture and sighs, tugging down the hem of his shirt to cover it.

"Don't worry 'bout it." 

"It wasn't there before." 

"Good observation, Sherlock. Do you want a medal?" Dabi chuckles, turning his attention towards the red sun.

"Dabi." 

"Look, it's stupid- okay?" Dabi frowns, refusing to meet Hawks' gaze, "If you laugh, I'm gonna set you on fire." Hawks waits for him to continue and after a long moment, he does.

"My physical form here can't handle fire. On top of that, I've been here for so long- I'm growing weaker since I'm just locked away. As I grow weaker, the less resistant I am to my own fire," Dabi pauses and takes in a deep breath, "My physical form doesn't have much time left." 

"What will happen then?" Dabi finally looks at him, clear turquoise softly watching him. 

"I don't know." Hawks feels his heart break for the resignation in Dabi's statement. Tentatively, he reaches out a hand towards Dabi and takes hold of one of his hands. In his grasp, the heat burns his hand and brushing against the sutures results in a soft hiss against his skin. If Dabi was telling the truth about not being able to handle the heat of his fire, Hawks wonders how he deals with the searing heat of the sutures embedded in his skin. 

"What are you doing?" Dabi looks up curiously from their linked hands and up at Hawks with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a thing that humans do to comfort others." Not that he can really speak from experience but despite feeling like his hand is going to burn off any second, it's actually nice. 

"I'm a demon, do I look like I need comforting?" Hawks runs a thumb over the grooved, burnt skin until he passes over a silver staple and smooth skin replaces the scarring.

"Everyone needs comforting." Dabi blankly studies him for a second before he looks back down to their hands, his eyes narrow at the skin rubbed raw on Hawks' wrists from his restraints. Dabi brings their hands up and turns them until he can see the red marks on his wrist.

"They're going to end up killing you." He whispers and Hawks shrugs, tightening his hold against Dabi's hand.

"I mean, if they do- I'll meet you in hell." Hawks' smile dies off when Dabi doesn't laugh, he falls quiet as Dabi turns to watch the blood red sun finally set over the treeline.

Black eyebrows furrow and Dabi frowns, he makes a promise to himself that before his physical form breaks- he'll make everyone pay.

Angels don't deserve to die.

Chapter Text

Pure unbridled hatred flows through his veins. Staring down at the wooden floorboard, he grits his teeth as the man sighs impatiently. A silver collar hugs tightly around his neck, burning and digging into his skin.

"Not good enough. When I give the command, you must obey." It's been just shy of one year since he's been summoned by this mortal and over the stretch of those month, he's been put through rigorous psychological abuse that he thought only his own kin were capable of. 

"Fuck you." He spits, there's a short pause and a zap runs down the length of his shackles and shocks him. He lets out a low hiss in warning and the man towering above his prone form only clicks his tongue.

"I will not be tolerating any more forms of insubordination. Get up and do it again." He refuses to move, not giving the man any small act of victory in their constant battles. Another shock runs through his body and the man steps in front of him, a large shined shoe obscures his vision.

"Touya. Get up." His true name is spoken for the first time and his body jolts at the command, moving on its own as he gathers himself up on his feet. Almost standing eye to eye, he glowers at the man and curls a lip- revealing his sharp teeth. He had been so careful, how had this man learn his true name? He offers no answer to the demon, instead he smiles coldly and nods in approval.

"Good, Touya. Now, do it again." His arm raises and sends out a hurtling ball of yellow fire. Turning his head, he studies his master for any sort of approval. All he receives is a disappointed sigh and a shock that steals his breath away. 

"Not good enough. Again." Touya summons his fire once more, unable to fight against the man whose soul he holds. 

He hangs back in the darkness, unable to keep himself from glowering at his master. Cold wind bites through his thin shirt but he doesn't mind it, after constantly overusing his hellfire- a blast of cold air is exactly what he needs on his burnt skin. It's been two years after his master had learned of his true name and since then, he's been at the mercy of the cruel mortal. Disgust festers in his heart and he roughly shoves his hands in his pockets, narrowing his eyes.

This man had claimed to summon him to raise the ranks and posses riches far more than anyone had dreamt of before. Boasting that he will endeavor anything that life throws his way and that Touya will be the source of his achievements. All of what he's done has been outside of their agreement when he had first been summoned. However, with his true name revealed and holding the man's soul- he's tethered to the mortal he despises with every ounce of his being. 

"I know that he's hiding her." The man tersely speaks. Touya rolls his eyes and begins to pace restlessly behind his master, anyone with the sight could see pure holy energy dripping off of the house. A closer look tells him that she's not even in the house, their excursion had been nothing but a waste of their time in Touya's opinion. He keeps quiet though, he hadn't been asked a question and therefore, he must remain silent. To be seen and not heard is what he's been told on a daily basis. 

"You know what you need to do, Touya." He halts at the mention of his name and begins to walk towards the quiet house pointed out by his master.With a shrug and a final sneer, he wills himself to melt into the shadows and make his way to the house.

He feels like he's suffocating, the stench of that woman clings to everything in the house. Tucking his nose into the crook of his elbow, he searches through the house. Touya's sharp ears pick up on a car pulling up into the driveway and he flees from the entryway. His time is ticking down and he has to finish before he is forced to face the fury of his master. 

Another noise breaks him from his worries, a soft peal of laughter. He quietly pads over to the source of the sound and slowly cracks open the door. 

Covered in a dusting of fluffy lint, a toddler with ashy blond hair and pure gold eyes sits in the middle of the small laundry room. Just a short glance at the toddler confirms what his master had been searching for, for the past three years. 

A successfully created nephilim.

Wide gold eyes blink up at Touya and chubby hands reach up towards him, he frowns and shakes his head. He had been ordered to find any leads of the escaped angel and to destroy all evidence of Doctor Kita's research. What a shame that his master hadn't specified what to do if he actually finds a half angel. What a shame indeed. If there's one good thing that demons are good at- it's finding loopholes. 

Touya pushes off from the doorway and walks up to the toddler. His eyebrows knit together, the toddler before him looks human in every way. What had the doctor done to this innocent child? For almost the first time in the long stretch of his life, Touya feels pain for the toddler. Being cast into a role he hadn't asked for and for them to rip his wings away? He can understand. 

A bright blue lighter sits next to the toddler and Touya chuckles, bending down to level with the infant. 

"Didn't your parents ever tell you it's dangerous to play with fire?" He only gets babbles back but he continues, "I'll show you the full extent of the fire's fury. Think of it as your first lesson in life." Touya stands up, his knees pop and gingerly he reaches down- picking up the giggling toddler. Balancing the toddler against his hip, his other hand extends out towards the pile of laundry and side glances to the infant.

"Watch." 

A burst of light blinds the toddler and he lets out a soft cry, tucking his face into Touya's shoulder. He only watches as cruel orange flames begin to spread around the room. A surprised shout makes him whirl around, coming face to face to Doctor Kita. The toddler in his grip reaches out to his father, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks.

"What are you?!" The doctor shouts and reaches for a fire extinguisher, Touya smiles. He hadn't been ordered what to do if Doctor Kita gets in his way. While he may feel merciful towards the child in his arm, he can't quite say the same goes for Doctor Kita. 

Touya reaches out with his free hand and grabs the doctor by the collar of his shirt; lifting him up, his feet kick in the air uselessly. A hand slaps against his chest and Touya sighs, humans never know when their life has come to an end. They always choose to fight until the very end.

"Why?" Doctor Kita manages to choke out. Touya pauses for a brief second, looking deep in the doctor's petrified eyes before he throws him into the fire. He moves to leave the room and glances over his shoulder, ignoring the frightened shrieks of the toddler in his arms. He stares at the writhing form of the doctor and smirks.

"Because I'm the bad guy, duh." 

He exits out of the backdoor, knowing that his master is watching the front. Carefully, he sets down the infant and studies him for a moment with a heavy heart. 

"Nothing personal, kid. Trust me, this is better than being found out. We don't exist to be caged like animals for mortal's amusement. While your life will be hard, you will know freedom. I envy you." He turns away and melds into the shadows, ignoring the toddler's pleading cries. 

Back at his master's side, he's rewarded with a shock. He steels against it, clenching his jaw and waits for his punishment to be over.

"You fool, what would have happened if the police had shown up?" His master hisses. Touya doesn't answer, his gaze stays glued to the entry gate of the house's backyard. His master shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Did you find his research documents?"

"Why do you think I set the house on fire?" He can't stop from lashing back and he tenses as another shock bites into him.

"I do not appreciate your attitude, Touya," his master pauses, "Did you find any leads about the project in there?" 

"No." Touya answers, finally looking away from the backyard's gate and meeting his master's close gaze, "There was nothing else." Disgust continues to build in Touya as his master nods in approval, turning away from the burning house and walks towards his car- smiling to himself, completely oblivious to his lie. Touya tells himself that one day, he will kill his master. 

Seven agonizingly long years since he's been summoned by his master.

A small boy of five stares up at him with frightened grey eyes. His white hair hangs limply against his forehead and he backs away until he runs into the wall behind him, whimpering quietly. His master lays a hand on his shoulder and scoots the boy forward until Touya is towering over the child. He does not blink or frown, he hates everything but has been ordered to show no emotion. 

"Natsuo, you will behave." His master reminds his only son before looking at Touya, "Posses him." Touya sighs and takes a step forward, he studies the boy and wants to ask his master why on earth would he thinks this is even a good idea. A mere boy of five has nowhere near enough willpower or strength to be able to withhold a possession. Unable to offer any words of comfort to the boy, he closes his eyes and exhales slowly. Touya's soul exits his body and phases into the son of his master.

He sits in the darkness of his confines, staring down at his smoking hands. No matter how much he blinks, he still can't get the image of the son's broken body. Touya had tried to warn his master of the repercussions and now there's innocent blood shed. His master hadn't even blinked, when his son's mangled body crumpled to the floor. He's angry. Angry at his master for his cruelty. Angry at the boy for having to die so young. Most of all, he's angry at himself even existing to begin with. 

Touya's slumber is restless, he twists and turns over the cold concrete of his confinement. In his dreams, all he can see is the burning of azure fire and the broken body of his master's son. Anger builds up to sorrow and in his dreams, he pulls himself into a dark and black realm where no screaming or the faces of the dead can haunt him. 

He's safe there.

In his realm, no one can hurt him. 

His door is thrown open and Touya lets out a low hiss at his master. His keen eyes pick up on a small girl behind his master, clinging to his leg and fire begins to erupt around him. He would tell his master that he would no longer be used for his master's experiments. After last night, with the failure of his possession- he's been ordered to never speak again. 

"Touya, this is your last chance. Do not disappoint me." With a narrowed glare, he watches as his master pushes forward his daughter. 

She pushes her white bangs out of her eyes and stares deep into his very being. In those eyes, they only hold silent resignation. 

Two grueling weeks of watching the daughter fight a losing battle for her life leaves Touya with a bad taste in his mouth. He knew that she was going to perish like her brother, but two weeks? For what?

Touya has lived with his master for seven years, during those seven years- he had seen some snippets of movies here and there. His interest had been piqued when The Exorcist played one night. To young children and naïve adults, it's a tale of unimaginable horror. To Touya, it was nothing more than a comedic movie that incorrectly portrays demonic possession. 

There was no spinning of heads or spewing green vomit. No mention of a mother's profession or the trying patience of Catholic priests. No frenzied laughter as furniture levitates around the room. There's none of that. What does transpire is much worse. 

After the first two days, nothing is too noticeable but on the inside, organs begin to shut down. Soon afterwards, the skin takes up a sickly grey color and the person begins to bleed out of every orifice. If they're still possessed, teeth begins to fall out and hair turns brittle to the touch- eventually falling out as well. Towards the end, sores open up and puss seeps out from the wounds. Their tongue swells and turns a dark purple color and the smell of death hangs off of them. Then, they die. Quietly leaving the world like a whisper in the wind. 

Most possessions are the end result in teenagers who don't know the consequences of ouija boards, they soon fall forgotten. Their names never to be spoken in a conversation again. His master's daughter though, another innocent life snuffed out all too soon. He asks himself, as his tears run raw after all that he saw. Is that all that he gave? Did he give his master his all?

Staring down at his hand, he frowns. Dark purple skin stretches across his previously unblemished skin. Running a finger over it, there's dips and grooves and the scarring itself runs hotter than his normal temperature. 

Every bit of who he used to be is being erased from even himself. He had been mischievous before being summoned by his master, now all that remains is a being only driven by bloodlust and the burning and absolute hatred towards his master. Pushed to the brink of his sanity, he escapes permanently to his realm. Watching as his primal instincts take over his physical body, he turns his back to everything. 

In the darkness of his safety, Touya watches from a safe distance. Everyday, he watches his physical form take beatings from his master. He's the sole witness to his master looping hundreds of silver rings through his body in hopes of controlling the enraged demon that Touya has started to see as a stranger. Each day, his physical body grows more and more strong. He knows its one motive, to tear out the throat of their master- to be bathed in his blood. Touya makes no move to control it. He sits back in his realm with his own motives in mind. 

Until he's able to act upon them, he will allow his instincts to control his physical body. 

His master can try his hardest to destroy everything, but he will stand tall. After all, his hatred will prevail. 

Many years go by, he's lost track of time. He's been locked in his tiny cell for too long. Shackled to the ceiling, he can feel his physical body grow restless as it begins to wither away. Touya, himself, stays asleep for the most part. In his realm, he can trick himself into believing that he's whole again. Sometimes, he holds a conversation with his other half. It can only answer in growls and hisses, still bound by their master's orders. 

Through his realm's darkness, a red light flashes and he can feel his other half prodding- waking him from his slumber. It allows him to take momentarily control as the heavy silver door to his cell hisses open and two scientists come in to feed him. Behind them, stands two figures. One is the familiar outline of one of the guards and the other- Touya opens his mouth and gives out a warning hiss. Narrowing his eyes, he watches as the nephilim in front of him thickly swallows. 

Has time really moved so quickly that the half-breed now stands as a man rather than a frightened toddler? To think that he had gifted him not only the act of mercy but freedom, he had never anticipated to see him again. His heart begins to thunder and he lets out a shriek, allowing azure hellfire to erupt from his very being. 

The nephilim he saved so long ago had only grown to be a traitor. 

At the edge of his realm, he feels another. It's not the familiar aura of his other half, this has a bright red energy that pushes his darkness away. Knowing instantly who it is, he smiles. 

"Why do you hide?" He asks, watching in near glee at the half-angel's fear. 

"Are you not proud of what you are?" If he wants to parade around as a traitor, Touya decides to take a up the liberty to toy with the dream walker. He finally allows himself to be seen and he takes in a deep breath, ready to show him a slightly twisted account of the past. 

After the nephilim that goes by Hawks had left his realm, Touya realized that Hawks no idea what he even is.

He watches from his realm as his master bursts into his cell. A breach had happened earlier in the night and to his amusement, Shigaraki had almost killed off Hawks. He was so close he could feel the frustration dripping off of the monster even through the talismans and silver door.

"You said that you found no leads about the doctor's project." Their master bellows out. Touya's body remains strung up by his shackles, his other half lets him take control again and instantly he loses feeling in his arms. Touya remains quiet, studying his master intently. 

"Why is it that I just now learn that the doctor had a son?" His master stops in front of him and glowers. 

"Touya, I demand you to speak. Why have you not told me about the son?" 

"You had ordered me to find leads and destroy any research notes," Touya speaks- his voice crackles and is rough from years of being denied the simple act of talking, "Last I had checked, human children were neither of those." He's not wrong, he tells himself. Hawks was not a lead because he was the end product. It's not his fault that his master continues to fail at specifying orders. Pure electrical voltage runs through his thin body and Touya strains against the silver restrains. 

"After all these years, you still have an attitude problem," His master hisses, "I want you to reveal  what you know." Touya nods but stays quiet. His master had once again failed to be more specific and hadn't said who he has to reveal his knowledge to. After a few minutes, his master grows frustrated at Touya's silence and takes it as ignorance and storms out of the cell. 

Touya retreats to his realm and waits for a specific realm walker to find his way back. 

If he had been told in the past that he would house feelings for a half-angel, he would've laughed. Now, as Hawks holds his hand and as the giant red sun finally completes its course and twilight dusk bathes them in soft light, he realizes it's not a laughing matter. 

Touya realizes that he has to act upon his long thought out plan soon. Or it may cost the life of the one thing in his existence that means something to him. 

He's unable to sit back in his realm and hide anymore. It's time to finally merge fully with his other half and take his fate into his own hands. Touya tightens his grip in Hawks' hand.

He suffered a lot, but he's steadfast and won't bow down. He will bring an end to his master, the man that goes by the name of Todoroki Enji.

Chapter Text

"Remarkable, even with the successful removal of Subject Zero- we are still seeing its after affects in Subject 8-1-23-11-19. We have put the subject through various trials and it has passed every single one. Proceeding in Project Nephilim's footsteps, we have come to an agreement to merely call this new project, Hope. This subject holds the key to every human ailment known, it is immune to every disease we have introduced to it thus far.

"Subject 8-1-23-11-19 has an incredible healing rate. This was noted on its first week here with us, we are currently tasked to study its skeletal system. It's curious, really, it possess such fragile bones. Breaking its bones was simple, taking some samples and after some prodding around- we also learned that Subject 8-1-23-11-19's bones are hallow like a bird's. We were sure to thoroughly shatter a femur, humerus, several ribs and all of its carpals in its right wrist. In the next morning, not only had its skin fully healed from the incisions but all of its bones were completely fused back and after some x-rays, we couldn't even locate any stress on the bones." Doctor Ujiko leans back in his chair and leafs through his files. He strokes a finger over his mustache and nods thoughtfully before he speaks into the recorder again.

"I admit, our next test might have been a little... unethical. Yet," He pauses again, "In order to save millions upon millions of lives, what's the worth of just one? Our next test with the subject was a more advanced procedure of the previous one. Instead of just breaking a few of its bones, we had broken every bone in its body, including the bones in its wings. I had originally put in the order for sedating the subject during the procedure but was notified by Director Todoroki to keep the subject fully awake. He wanted to us to monitor the subject's brain waves and note if anything happens under tremendous stress.

"I am saddened to say that after the first break of its bones, the subject seemed to have put itself into a trance like sleep. Its brain waves slowed to a halt and even its heart rate had dropped to such a low beat that a human would not have survived. We have outfitted a holter monitor to the subject for further monitoring of its heart. We will also be providing it a stress test, a CAT scan will be issued after the stress test as well as after other... more intense tests." Doctor Ujiko pulls out a bright red feather out from the file and grins, nodding and lightly running a finger up its spine.

"However, we will be taking a short break from that and will be focusing on its wings. Originally, the subject had been employed by us and had no other appendages. After contracting Subject Zero, it seemed to have grown wings. Upon closer inspection, we have noted scar tissue on the lattissimus dorsi, located between its infraspinatus and rhomboisdeus major. Its wings are fantastic, when they're fully extended- they reach up to an amazing seven meters each, earning the subject a combined fourteen meter total wingspan.

We have fully extracted its wings for DNA inspection to learn more, surprisingly unlike with its bones, new wings have not grown in at all. Regardless, Subject 8-1-23-11-19 is amazing. I cannot wait until I have been given the go ahead to perform a full body vivisection of this subject. Doctor Ujiko signing out." 

A doorbell ringing interrupts his thoughts and he slowly stands up from his chair. Looking to the computer screen, the time is just after three in the morning. He shuffles to the front entry and looks on the security screen. 

Standing at his gate is a slender woman dressed in white, her face is shielded away from the camera but from the heaving of her shoulders- she appears to be crying. He hesitantly presses the speaker button and speaks into the mic.

"Ma'am, it is three in the morning." She stops moving and slowly turns to the camera, the woman keeps her face hidden through a curtain of white hair and he watches as she presses the button to speak to him. A chill runs up his spin and it feels like the temperature around him had dropped ten degrees as she begins to speak softly. Her voice doesn't come from the speaker but in his mind.

"Have... you seen my son...?" Doctor Ujiko blinks rapidly, he swears that when she spoke- bursts of frost rushes down the walls. However, all that he sees is a blank monitor- no woman to be seen. 

He pulls out his phone when a soft sobbing gets his attention from upstairs and he looks up to the second floor landing, swallowing thickly. Dressed in a white dress that's drenched in blood and matted white hair that hangs in clumps, a woman reaches towards the top stair with an outreached hand. Her fingernails scrape against the wooden floor and her neck jolts up, bones cracking loudly. Opening her mouth, it gapes wide and she spits up thick blood that dribbles down her chin. Choking out a soft sob, more blood spews up and splatters against her dress and his floor.

Through her clumped white hair, two silver eyes bore right into Doctor Ujiko. He's filled with fear as she begins to slowly crawl down the stairwell, trailing congealed blood as she continues down her slow descent towards him. Bones pop out of place and crack as she lets out a loud wail, shaking him from his paralyzing fear. Grappling with the doorknob, he throws open the door and runs out into the darkness of the night. 

*

Shouto strolls through the open front door that Doctor Ujiko left wide open, he barely glances up to his mother on the stairs, who's standing slowly back to her feet.

"I suppose that's one way to get him out of the house." He mumbles and she fades back to a soft white light, trailing after him. 

He drums his fingers along the wall and tilts his head, sending out a pulse of energy- he feels the angelic presence of the feather and quickly makes his way to the room. 

Stacks upon stacks of papers and files are strewn over the small room and two computer monitors sit on the overcrowded desk. He thrums out another burst of energy and finds the red feather under the rolling chair. 

Shouto bends down to pick it up and picks up the file on top of the rest of the papers on the desk. A picture of Hawks staring blankly up at the camera lens greets him, his large wings folded up against his back and he's wearing nothing but the standard white sweats that hang loosely around his thin hips. Shouto frowns and looks down to the recorder set on the keyboard. Reaching down, he presses play.

He's filled with disgust as Doctor Ujiko beings to speak about the experiments done on Hawks. Not being able to listen anymore, he sends a burst of fire towards it- silencing the recorder forever. Taking another look around the room, he sets the room on fire, destroying all of Doctor Ujiko's logs and research notes. 

Shouto strolls back outside, hot fire licking at his back. Pulling out his phone, he enters a number and on the second ring- his call is picked up.

"I've taken care of the doctor's evidence." 

"Good, I'll call you back once my part is finished." The voice on the other end of the phone hums before hanging up.

*

Rumi doesn't take her eyes off of the monitor that shows her Hawks' room, she swings slightly from side to side in her chair and is resting her chin against a hand. A frown tugs at her lips and with a sigh, she pushes away from the desk. 

She had always been aware of the Federal H.E.R.O. Safety Commission had some questionable ways of the experiments held but she had always told herself that it was for the greater good of humanity.

Seeing Hawks come back from Doctor Ujiko's laboratory in increasingly worse condition finally makes her open her eyes to the cruelty. She feels sick to her stomach that in a way, she's just as guilty as the doctors and scientists. Rumi remembers a conversation she had with Chisaki when she had just started as a fresh recruit. 

The massive bird had recently been caught, despite being hundreds of years old and being his first time in captivity- he had always gotten along well with the commission team. All he ever asked for in return was for a spotless cell, which was readily agreed to. 

Chisaki had leaned back against the wall of his cell and watched Rumi with such scrutiny that she had felt that he could read every thought she's ever had. For nights on end, they would just stand on opposite sides of the glass and closely study the other. One night, he had finally spoken to her.

"What is the point of having eyes if you pretend to not see anything?" There was no context to his question and for days afterwards, she would hear his voice floating through her mind- haunting her. Apparently that was a question that he would start asking anyone who would pass his cell. Director Todoroki had grown tired of Chisaki planting seeds of doubt in his workers and had ordered the removal of his voice box. 

She had turned a blind eye from that, pretending to see nothing. Since that night, Chisaki holds a fire in his eyes. Anyone who would dare to get close to him would be torn apart with just a touch of his hands. Every night that she passes his cell, she apologizes to him in her head. Now, years later, she finds herself asking that very question. 

"What's the point of having eyes if you pretend to not see anything?" Her stomach sours when a scientist enters Hawks' room- gathering him up for another one of Doctor Ujiko's cruel experiments. 

Only this time, she refuses to sit back. Tonight, she will rip the veil that shrouds her sight and for the first time- she will see. 

*

Everything hurts. Hawks glares up at the ceiling of his cell and focuses on his breathing. He feels as if it's been an eternity since he's been captured and the only thought that gnaws on the back of his mind is that of the stray cat. He hopes that someone is taking care of it. Soft laughter bubbles up and he shakes his head. Every day he's being cut into and here he's worried about a cat. 

Lifting up an arm, he studies the shiny muscle tissue. Apparently, the doctor had been so interested in his healing that they decided to peel back almost all of his skin on his forearm to see how long it would take to grow back new skin. 

It itches. 

Hawks ignores the urge to scratch and looks down to his mangled legs. Just another test of Doctor Ujiko and they itch almost as bad as his arm. Almost. 

He takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes.

"You're gonna need a helluva lot of therapy once you get out of here." Dabi greets him with a crooked smile that doesn't quite meet his eyes and Hawks rolls his eyes with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I don't think I'll be getting out of here anytime soon. Wanna be my therapist? You can even conjure up one of those typical therapist chairs, what's it called?"

"A chaise lounge?"

"Sure," Hawks forces his legs to heal, bones crack back into place and he stands up. His arm itches more and a quick glance down shows tissue threading over his muscle until all that's left is new skin, "Hey, then we could reenact a scene from The Titanic."

"Oh?" Hawks tilts his head to the side and blinks up at Dabi with a smirk.

"What? You know you want to draw me like one of your French girls." Dabi scoffs and looks away. 

"I don't have time for that." Dabi replies flatly.

"I think we have all of eternity exactly for that." Dabi side eyes him and slouches, a scorching hot hand reaches out and gently takes hold of one of his own. Hawks looks down at their linked hands and up at Dabi with a smile.

"You looked like you needed comforting." Dabi mumbles, refusing to look back down at Hawks. With a wave of his other hand, Dabi summons a bench and they sit down. 

"I need to ask a favor." Dabi speaks again and Hawks glances up and waggles his eyebrows at the demon.

"I don't think it's a good idea to be granting favors to demons." Dabi rolls his eyes.

"Like you're worth my time to torment for an eternity."

"Rude."

"I'm being serious though, I need you to do something for me." Hawks narrows his eyes and turns to face Dabi fully.

"Why can't you just do it?"

"Because, dumb ass, only you can summon others."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Dabi stands up and paces in front of Hawks, running a hand through his hair and exhales loudly through his nose.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just summon the ones that you used to guard over in my wing." Hawks studies Dabi for a long time, he can't help but feel that something is about to very wrong but in the end, he sighs- bowing his head down and concentrates on the monsters he once guarded. When he looks up, five new figures are standing around him and Dabi looks down at Hawks with a smile.

"Thanks, you're a big help."

"Why do you need-" Dabi reaches out a hand and sets Hawks on fire, ripping him away from the realm.

*

"I've said this before and I'll say it again. I don't appreciate being summoned like some sort of pet." Shigaraki hisses at Dabi, he waves off the twelve armed man and studies the other four. Himiko is flouncing around his realm, sniffing around the small park he has conjured up. Jin stays close to Himiko, hovering over her like an overprotective brother. Spinner is busy trying to calm down Shigaraki, who's still fuming and Kurogiri sits down on the bench- studying him with unblinking smokey eyes.

"What if I said that I can offer you a way out of here?" 

"Out of here? But we just got here, I want to pick the flowers before you send us back!" Himiko whines out and both her and Jin scurry towards the small white flowers that are blooming closely to the ground. 

"Not here," Dabi clarifies, "Out of the facility." 

"If I may interrupt," Kurogiri speaks up, "That will not be possible. I've escaped twice and even with being able to teleport- I've been caught." Dabi smiles down at Kurogiri.

"That's because you didn't have outside help." 

"And you do?" Shigaraki asks, he sits down next to Kurogiri and crosses some of his arms- crimson red eyes glaring up at Dabi. He chuckles and snaps his fingers, silencing Shigaraki. A puff of smoke appears between Dabi and the monsters. 

"I do in fact, have outside help." He softly replies and the smoke begins to clear, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my brother- Shouto." 

"Hello." Shouto greets them flatly and Shigaraki rolls his eyes.

"Great, just what we need: another one of you."

"Anyway," Dabi talks over Shigaraki, "Shouto has already started on his part of the plan. With our records destroyed, it's as if we don't exist anymore."

"I just need a little more time before everything is fully destroyed." Shouto adds and Dabi nods, smiling at the five monsters.

"See? With Shouto here to help us, escaping will be easy." 

"Why do you need us then? We've done nothing for each other. Why are you letting us in on your great escape?" Dabi and Shouto share a look and his little brother nods at him, Dabi turns away from everyone and studies the tree outline and takes in a deep breath.

"Because once the rest of the plan is set in action, I won't be of any help." 

"So we have to do all the dirty work for you." Shigaraki deadpans and Shouto sighs.

"I'd love to set this whole fucking city on fire if I could, but there's going to be a slight problem with that." Dabi murmurs.

"And that problem is?" He turns back around and meets Shigaraki's gaze.

"I'll most likely be forced to fight you." Shigaraki stands up and straightens out from his slouch, easily towering over Dabi.

"The fuck?" 

"It's not like I want to, but I'm bound here by an oath and my oath keeper just happens to be the director." Shigaraki lets out a low hiss and the others inch away from Dabi.

"You've got to be shitting me." 

"Once he gets wind of what's going down- he'll most likely order me to fight for him," Dabi narrows his gaze and fire begins to cover his left arm, "I need you to distract me when that happens." 

"You want me to fight you." Shigaraki stares down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You got twelve hands that can make me turn to dust, you'll be fine." 

"And you got fucking fire, you've got a damn helluva upperhand being AOE and everything."

"You'll be fine." Dabi repeats.

"I'll get burnt to a crisp." 

"You'll be fine," he repeats once more, "I'll help as much as I can but there will come the time where I'll be forced to fight for him and when that happens, you'll be the only one to be able to distract me long enough."

"Until what?"

"Until I can bring and end to him." Shouto speaks up, looking up at Shigaraki. Dabi wryly smiles down at Shouto and back at Shigaraki.

"After he takes care of him, I won't be a problem anymore." 

"Why's that?" Himiko pipes up and Dabi looks up to the night sky.

"Because I'll finally be released and be sent back to hell." He quietly answers her.

After hashing out a plan with everyone, Dabi sets them all on fire and they're released from his realm. Shouto stays for a moment longer, and Dabi makes him promise something to him. After Shouto promises, he lets himself out of the realm- not needing or particularly wanting to be set on fire.

Dabi sits down on the bench staring up at the waning moon, he reaches up towards it for a moment before pulling his hand back down. 

A figure encased in flickering shadows stands behind him, growling softly. Dabi doesn't look behind him and only sighs. 

"I suppose it's time, isn't it?" He stands up and faces it, "I can't run away. Not this time." Dabi opens his arms and the shadowy figure steps towards him. It melts into him, explosive heat engulfs his body and he lets out a scream.

Opening his eyes, he finds himself shackled from the ceiling. Blinking, he smiles. Dabi can feel his full combined power coursing through his veins, it's been too long since he's been whole and he finds himself restless. He lets out a low hiss, setting his entire cell on fire.

*

"Hey! I need help!" Shigaraki hears Himiko cry out, she sounds like she's in pain from the panicked tone in her voice. Jin's howls join her shrieks and Officer Kamihara runs past his cell, Shigaraki narrows his eyes and walks up to the window to watch. 

"Jesus, what happened?" He can barely hear the muffled guard's question and Himiko only blubbers out an answer as she continues to sob. Pressing up closer to the window, he can just barely see the guard open the door to her cell and a small hand shoots out- pulling him into the cell before the guard can even yelp in surprise. Shigaraki hums to himself and makes his way back to his cot, intent on getting some shut eye before the fight. 

"Subject 20-5-14-11-15, on your feet." A low voice bellows out and Shigaraki jumps in his cot, had their plan already gone south? He slithers out from his cot and stands up to his full height, looking down on the guard on the other side of the window. A smile breaks across the guard's face and jingles a set of keys in front of him.

"Pretty convincing, huh?" The guard lowers the shades and a flash of gold glitters up at him mischievously. He shakes his head with a sigh and studies her closely. Pleasantly surprised at how well her power works for stealth tactics, he makes a note of that for later.

"Did you get the others out already?" 

"It's not time yet, just doin' my rounds." Himiko pushes the shades back up to conceal her eyes and she walks away from his cell.

"I'll get you when it's time." Shigaraki sits back on his cot and focuses on his breathing. 

*

"Officer Kamihara, do you copy?" Rumi releases the speak button and listens for his reply, it comes shortly after.

"Loud and clear." Rumi nods thoughtfully, she pauses before she speaks into the transceiver.

"I require your assistance." 

"Roger that." His answer comes clipped and tense. Rumi sets down the transceiver and stands up from her chair, leaving the room to greet him at the entrance of her corridor. She can't shake the feeling that something is off and needs to confirm something.

"Sorry to take you from your route but this is pretty urgent. Follow me." 

"Of course, Officer Usagiyama." There it is, she thinks. Everyone, save for the director, calls her by her first name. Rumi only nods and motions him to follow her to the monitor room. 

As soon as they enter the room, she locks the door behind her and the other officer looks up to study the monitors- totally oblivious.

"What is it that you need?" He doesn't turn to face her and she quietly takes out the gun holstered at her side. Pushing it against the back of his head, she narrows her eyes and takes the safety off.

"Would you care to explain what's going on?" 

*

Shouto leans against a tree and stares at the figure across from him.

"Are you sure that everything on your part is finished?" There's a soft chuckle and the figure draws the hood away from their face, green eyes cut through the darkness.

"Of course."

"Do you really want to get mixed up in this?" He can't help but to feel the inkling of nervousness beginning to take root in his stomach. 

"Shouto, in case you forgot," green lightening begins to crackle around them- enveloping the figure before him in its bright light, "I was born mixed up in this just as much as you." As the green lightening fades, Izuku stands with a sparking light melded into the shape of wings.

*

"Fuck." Hawks mutters, he closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. Since getting thrown out of Dabi's realm earlier, he can't contact the demon anymore. Every time he falls asleep, all that greets him is darkness. There's not even a trace of Dabi in the realm anymore, it's totally empty. It's never been empty before and it makes Hawks feel sick. Dabi is up to something and being so out of the loop of everything puts him in a bad mood. 

He stalks back and forth in his cell. Approaching footsteps gets his attention and he crouches down.

"Hawks," Rumi and another guard stop in front of his cell, "I haven't been a very good friend. Sorry about that, I'll make it up to you though." Rumi whispers and in one fluid motion, she unlocks the door to his cell and it hangs wide open. He doesn't make a move, not fully trusting Rumi or the other guard. He's learned not to blindly put his trust in others and he only tucks himself into a corner of his cell. Rumi is about to step in when the male guard puts up a arm, stopping her.

"I got this, just keep a look out." Rumi hesitantly nods and walks off, leaving Hawks alone with this guard. 

"C'mon, we have to leave." He lets out a warning hiss when the guard gets too close and for a moment, he hangs back before he chuckles.

"You've been spending way too much time with Dabi for your own good." Hawks watches as the guard lowers the shades, revealing bright ochre eyes that wink at him. 

"Himiko?" She puts a finger to her mouth and shushes him. 

"Time is running out. Let's go." 

*

An alarm begins to go off and Shigaraki halts, putting a hand up- everyone behind him stops moving. He tilts his head and listens for any source of movement. Earlier, they had tried to shake Kurogiri from his daze in order for a clean escape but he still remains delirious from his medication and can't teleport more than ten feet at a time. Quickly growing tired of that, Shigaraki announced that they will be breaking out the good old fashioned way. 

Rumi hangs back and away from the rest of the group, he can feel her close glare but she remains on their side for the time being. He doesn't put much trust in her, but she knows the way out of the confusing twists and turns of the hallways so he decides to let her live for now.

If the moment calls, he won't hesitate to put her down for the greater good of everyone escaping. After all, what's the worth of one life in the grand scheme of things? Why should he put trust in a human that had, for many years, considered him and the rest of his group nothing more than mutants and freaks? The answer is that he doesn't have to put trust in her and that he never will, he'll only tolerate her at best. At worst, well, he thinks that it would be for the best to not inform her of how closely she's dancing with death.

A soft shuffle of feet up ahead breaks him away from his brooding thoughts about the rogue guard and he narrows his eyes; watching closely as two figures approach from the darkness. 

*

When Himiko had cut Dabi down from his restraints, he decided that moving on his own- away from the group would be for the best. Now, as he cracks open a door to a large room, he's thankful with every fiber of his being for that decision. 

Rows upon rows of large tube like structures line the walls and what's contained in them makes his stomach coil uncomfortably. Within them, lies countless deformed bodies of Hawks. Dabi frowns and rests a clawed hand against a warm tube, he doesn't sense any life from it and in seconds- it's up in flames. 

Not only had they run experiments on Hawks but the thought of cloning him too makes Dabi want to throw up. Without wasting another second, he sends out fire in every direction towards the clones.

Liquid within the tubes begin to boil and to his disgust, some of the clones stir. He watches as one clone tries to bash against the glass trying to escape from its prison. A few gurgled screams cry and plead to let them go, they fall on deaf ears as Dabi continues to watch them boil alive. Eventually, the glass begins to crack from the intensity of his fire and one by one, the tubes explode. In a slew of shimmering glass and liquid, bodies slide onto the floor, their skin a bright red and covered in boils. There is just one clone that clings to life, Dabi brings its suffering to an end with a quick stomp to its head.

Something within his core twists and slowly, he turns around. Looking through the door and into the corridor, a large figure blocks out his escape. Rolling back his shoulders, he cracks his neck and crouches down on all fours with a loud hiss. If he moves fast enough, he might just get the upper hand he needs. Blue fire begins to coat him and he lunges out towards the door.

"Touya." He's forced to a halt, he screams at himself to push forward but he remains frozen. "You will come with me now." Without another order from his master, his body jolts towards the figure on its own accord.

*

"Where's Dabi?" Shouto asks, Shigaraki gives a noncommittal shrug and Himiko answers for him.

"He wanted to go by himself, he said it would be better if we stayed away since, y'know." She trails off and looks over at Hawks. He's leaning heavily on her and Jin, his legs are still not fully healed and Shigaraki dubbed them as Hawks' bodyguards. Spinner had asked Shigaraki why he wasn't considered one since he was the closest to him but Shigaraki had only waved him off. 

In all honesty, Shigaraki had chosen Himiko and Jin because if things get rough- Jin can just burst into his other form and carry Hawks away and Himiko is with them because she seems to be one of the only ones that can actually keep Jin in check.

He figures that the workers here will think that Hawks will be with Spinner and Kurogiri: Spinner because they have the closest semblance to friendship and Kurogiri for his teleportation. Shigaraki is refusing to play into their hands and besides, Kurogiri is still almost next to useless in his drugged state. 

Behind Shouto is someone he doesn't recognize and he stalks up towards the two, his group remains still. Towering over Shouto, he can easily see a small green haired boy looking up at him with wide eyes. 

"Who is this? We didn't agree on bringing anyone else." He spits out, a hand at his side twitches and Shouto doesn't flinch away from Shigaraki's growing irritation.

"Midoriya Izuku, the only other survivor of Project Nephilim." Shouto answers flatly and Hawks stirs from between the two that are holding him up.

"I-" He splutters, "You... I have a brother?" Shigaraki glances over his shoulder at Hawks and sees a flurry of emotions pass through his eyes: hope, wonder, confusion and lastly, hurt. He turns back around to the two teens and narrows his eyes, the green haired one doesn't seem similar to Hawks at all and he can't help but to feel like there's something that these two are hiding. 

"Jesus." Rumi whispers, looking horrified- much to Shigaraki's satisfaction. Shouto opens his mouth to speak but Izuku shakes his head and answers Hawks.

"Sorry, I'm afraid not." Anger spikes through Shigaraki, surprising him. He's been tasked to lead this ragtag group out to safety and even though he doesn't like Rumi and absolutely doesn't trust Shouto or his little friend, he feels an air of responsibility for the rest. 

"Hey, playing with someone's emotions like that is going to end poorly for you." His warning comes out as a low and dangerous hiss, Shouto blinks up at him and rolls his eyes.

"We'll explain it later, nobody is playing with anyone's emotions." 

"Why're you here?" Himiko prods and Izuku flashes her a wobbly smile, nervously wringing his hands together.

"I can help." He doesn't offer any further explanation and Shigaraki huffs, there's no time to interrogate two vague teens and he motions his group forward. From the corner of his eye, Hawks can't stop staring at Izuku in amazement. Shigaraki wishes that he would at least blink or something, the air around the two is growing more awkward by the second and Shigaraki ignores the growing itch on his neck. 

They continue down a corridor in insufferable silence. Shigaraki had always enjoyed peace and quiet but the tension that's suffocating him makes his eye twitch. He can operate under pressure just fine and keep a cool head but something about Izuku really rubs him the wrong way and he can't figure out why. 

A surge of heat pushes them back a few inches and Shigaraki hisses, around the next bend is flickering blue light and the clacking of talons over a concrete floor. Shouto mutters something to Izuku before he melts into the shadows and without another word, the other teen takes Shigaraki's group through a door- locking it behind him. 

Shigaraki stands up to his full height and watches as the two dancing shadows on the wall grow larger until he comes face to face with Director Todoroki and Dabi that's trailing behind him with a wild and nearly murderous look fuming in the depths of his bright turquoise eyes. 

Director Todoroki glances over him and a smile slowly stretches across his lips. 

"Touya, kill him." A sea of azure hellfire instandly erupts all around them and Shigaraki dodges out of the way as Dabi bolts towards him, a scorching hand brushes against him and he growls at the contact- twisting away from the scarred hand. Landing gracefully on his feet, Shigaraki whips around and reaches out towards the burning demon with all of his hands. He watches as the demon gnashes his teeth, smoke and bright blue fire spews from his mouth. Dabi stomps down his foot and an enormous wave of fire hurtles towards him, Shigaraki dances around it. One of his hands brushes against the hungry flames as it passes him and it instantly becomes charred. He takes another one of his hands and rests it on the burnt skin- fully disintegrating it, it would only get in his way. 

Shigaraki lets out a laugh and looks up to Dabi, tilting his head to the side.

"You better make it count, you better kill me in one shot, motherfucker, because if I'm still breathing," he pauses, his gaunt face pulled into a thin and almost maniacal smile, "I'll make you regret ever being put on this earth." 

*

A thunderous crash rumbles around them and the walls shudder. Himiko and Jin pause, Hawks blinks and shakes his head as dust from the ceiling lands in his hair. Izuku shares a look with Rumi and they quicken their pace, Hawks' feet drag underneath him as the two holding him up follow Izuku and Rumi. From behind, Spinner lets out a yelp as the wall next to him explodes. Kurogiri expands around Spinner and they flicker for a second before appearing at the front of the group in time to avoid Shigaraki that crashes into the corridor. 

He scrambles back up to his feet and shouts at them to run as long thin fingers curl around the gaping opening of where Shigaraki crashed through seconds before, claws sink into the wall and hairline cracks spider out from under the black talons. Blue fire begins to climb the walls as Dabi pulls himself into the corridor. Shigaraki throws himself at the demon and Hawks lets out a yell. He struggles against Himiko's and Jin's grip, trying to put himself between the two men but they continue to drag him away from Shigaraki and Dabi. 

"No! Let me go!" He continues to claw at their hands, but he's still weak and is no match against their iron tight grip.

"Are you fucking stupid?" Spinner shouts at him, eyes wide in disbelief. 

"I can fix this!" Warmth pools in the pit of his stomach and in a burst of red, feathers spear through Himiko and Jin- throwing them backwards as Hawks begins to stumble towards the fight. 

"Hawks!" He ignores Izuku's yell and falls to his knees when another rumble quakes through the building. Hawks begins to stumble back to his feet when an ice cold burst of energy wraps itself around his torso, looking down a pulsing and flickering black light begins to yank him backwards. He whips his head around and sees Izuku standing in the middle of the group with an arm outreached and the black light wrapped securely around his hand like a whip. With another yank, Hawks tumbles closer to him. 

A shot rings out and Izuku's whip fades from existence and he clasps a hand to his chest, dark blood begins to gush out from between his fingers and he falls to the ground. Behind him stands Doctor Ujiko who's twisted and stretched out twice his normal height. All light around him seems to be absorbed by the pure black aura that envelopes him. Doctor Ujiko begins to limp and stumble towards them and he laughs. A strong smell of bleach fills the demolished corridor and behind the doctor is Chisaki with seven other forms that stand around him.

"Now," His voice is distorted and it sounds like hundreds of voices are speaking at the same time, "Where have you been hiding this whole time, little one?" All the lights in the corridor shut off and all Hawks can hear is the laughter of Doctor Ujiko and Subject Zero. 

*

Shouto waits in the darkness until he sees Dabi chase after Shigaraki, so far everything is going to plan- much to his relief. He checks the time on his wristwatch, it's almost three in the morning- just five more minutes. Through the cover of his shadows, he can feel a thunderous crash and the panicked yell of someone. He knows that Shigaraki can't last much longer against a full fledged demon and as much as he would like to wait- time is certainly not on his side. 

Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath and steps away from the shadows. Melting back into the light leaves him slightly nauseous, he swallows down the feeling and steps over scattered debris. 

Sensing his father's presence isn't difficult and he quickly makes his way to him, hand curling and summoning an ice dagger.

His wristwatch reads 2:56.

*

Through the occasional bursts of blue fire from Dabi's own fight down further into the corridor, Hawks can just barely make out the form of Doctor Ujiko and the eight monsters slowly approaching them. Rumi scrambles next to him and aims her gun at Doctor Ujiko with shaking hands, the others stand next to Hawks and with the cracking of bones and screeching, he knows that Jin finally got pushed beyond his limit. A large hand swats them to the side and the hulking mass of pure rage runs straight towards Doctor Ujiko. 

When Jin had thrown them out of his way, Hawks bashes his head against the concrete floor and he begins to drift in and out of consciousness. Around him are the screams of monsters and the cackling of Doctor Ujiko. Shots begin to ring out as Rumi stands over him, shooting down the approaching mass. A soft voice in his head tells him to stand up.

*

Shigaraki jumps out of the way of another wave of flames and growls in frustration. He knew this was going to be a bad idea. Why on earth did Dabi think that he could keep up with the sheer amount of destruction that the demon is creating? Only the craving for survival keeps him on his feet, there's no way that he can hold a match to the ferocity of Dabi. 

He curses under his breath and leaps over a broken wall, he's in the worst possible mood. With sharp eyes, he notices some of Dabi's skin is beginning to peel and blister, thinking to himself, he tells himself that there still may be some hope left if he can survive long enough- Dabi might just run himself into the grave. He nurses a sore arm to his chest and rolls to the side as Dabi crashes towards him. 

Anger surges through him. Years of bottled up emotions finally explode as Dabi walks towards him. Rejection, desperation, fear and unbridled rage rear their ugly heads and Shigaraki begins to scream. 

He refuses to die in the midst of his own prison.

He will not be just another failed experiment.

He will survive.

He will thrive and he will make them all pay.

Power fills and reinvigorates him, he doesn't back down from the smoldering demon and ignores the pain of the blue embers floating through the air, he doesn't let the smokey haze get in his way as he thrusts his hands against the wall behind him. 

Instantly it crumbles and he watches as the raw power from his emotions funnel through his hands and spreads to the wall. He feels as the whole building begins to shake and crumples into itself. Support beams groan in protest and a cloud of dust explodes from the ground as his power reaches the floor and cracks through the concrete. 

Standing in the middle of his own destruction, he looks up to Dabi and smiles.

"Seems that I just evened out the playing field."

*

"Foolish boy, did you really think that you could go up against me?" Director Todoroki stands over Shouto and smiles coldly down at him, pale blue eyes glinting through the smoke of his brother's hellfire. 

There's shudder in the building and Shouto watches as a massive hole eats through the floor behind the both of them. It ripples towards them and throws his father off balance, giving Shouto enough time to jump to his feet. His wristwatch flashes in the darkness. 2:59.

Dabi's seething shrieks can be heard through the disintegrating building and Shouto rushes towards his father, needing to put an end to him as fast as possible. 

Enji reaches his hand into the inside of his jacket and whips out a gun, aiming it at Shouto. As the shot rings out through the quaking building, he closes his eyes- waiting for the bullet's impact.

It never comes. 

Cracking open an eye, he sees massive tendrils of ice extending down from the ceiling and encasing protectively around him. In front of him, stands his mother. Puffs of cold air escapes through her mouth as she glowers at Enji. She casts a quick look at Shouto before she phases into the ice she created moments before. 

Enji remains frozen in shock and Shouto can only watch as she begins to walk towards him. 

His father shoots her, she jolts at the impact and melts into the floor. Enji begins to laugh and heads towards Shouto.

"Why do you fight? Why can't you see that I will be the one to restore greatness to humanity?" On the other end of the corridor, the lights begin to explode and through the darkness- Shouto can see the contorted form of a very pissed off spirit. 

"It is up to me and me alone. I will be the one to advance us by hundreds upon hundreds of years, Shouto." More lights shatter and Rei approaches, her body contorts and twitches with each step she takes and her long white hair flows behind her revealing glowing silver eyes. 

"I can grant us the gift of immortality, power and riches beyond belief! I will be a god among men." Enji shouts, banging a fist against the ice separating them. The light above them flickers for a second before they're both plunged into darkness. He slows his breathing and stills as Rei appears right behind Enji. Thin and pale fingers curl around his face, sinking their way into his mouth and Shouto allows a small smile.

"What's a god to a nonbeliever?" Shouto watches as cracks appear on his father's skin and without another word, both his mother and father disappear from view with only the sound of ice shattering around him. 

He falls to his knees and watches the light dusting of snow begin to fall softly.

*

Dabi grabs hold of Shigaraki by the throat, sharp black talons dig painfully into the sides of his throat, warm blood begins to trickle down his pale skin. Dabi tosses him effortlessly down the corridor with just a flick of his wrist. Shigaraki is thrown right into an unsteady Hawks and they sprawl onto the crumbling ground. Shigaraki scrambles up and Hawks sits up, blinking owlishly up at Shigaraki. He doesn't have time to help Hawks up to his feet because Dabi bolts towards them, using his own fire to propel him faster. An outreached hand begins to glow blue and Shigaraki steels himself between Dabi and the rest of his group that's distracted by their own fight. 

Dabi's hellfire never comes and Hawks peers around Shigaraki and lets out a scream. From behind Dabi is a swirling vortex of red and black, charred and cracked hands shoots out from the portal and grab hold of Dabi. With each hand that touches the demon, his skin begins to blacken and bubble, white embers begin to glow and eat at his skin and clothes.

He's jerked backwards and Hawks scrambles from behind Shigaraki. Screams of the damned begin to drown out the fight around them, growing louder and louder until his ears are left ringing and bleeding. Shigaraki grabs hold of Hawks, not letting him any closer to the demon or the ravenous hands. Dabi opens his mouth to say something but white fire explodes out of his mouth and dribbles over his chest. Hawks fights against the hold and reaches an arm out towards Dabi, tears running down his face as Dabi is fully pulled into the portal. A wave of scorching heat funnels down the corridor before the screams fully fade away. 

Hawks sprints to the charred spot where Dabi had just stood, ignoring the pain in his right knee and yells in frustration. Looking around, he sees Chisaki's friends easily overrunning his group and Shigaraki looks like he has one foot in the grave. Doctor Ujiko finally begins to approach the fight and has his hands outreached towards Izuku who's still unconscious and bleeding out on the ground. Rumi runs over to protect him but a monster lunges at her and knocks her to the ground. There's no hope of them getting out of here alive and he feels the cold acceptance of that. 

Before he can succumb to the own darkness of his thoughts, he hears the soft voice in his head again. This time, it's telling him that he will survive and make it out of the facility with his friends. Warmth blossoms from within his chest and a soft white light envelopes him. He feels his wings begin to grow back and looking back, they stretch out and are glowing faintly from the same soft light. His fear dies away and he turns to face the throng of growling monsters with a growing smile.

"Hey there demons, it's me, ya boy, Hawks." He exclaims before reaching a hand out and blasting the closest monsters away with a flurry of red feathers.

Chapter Text

Dabi's first lucid recollection is being thrust into the darkness with fire scorching around his throat as he gasps and claws for anything to quell the pain. Screams of the damned ring all around him as he feels the searing pain dull to a constant throb, then, he feels nothing. He can hear and see nothing. He is nothing.

Yet, he is everything. 

It has been a very long time since he's been in the depths of hell and being pulled back so violently throws him in a sour mood. He continues to stalk forward, weaving through the darkness and irritably swatting away the reaching hands, pleading to be let go. Even in death, humans still think that there's a chance of redemption or that there had been a mistake somewhere down the line between dying and being damned for an eternity. 

Dabi could honestly not care less about their pleas and half-assed promises to change. He's here for one thing and one thing only.

A specific soul that will not be able to control him, not this time when they're in his turf now. Finding him will be easy, even through the churning waves of faceless souls- he can hunt down the man with his eyes closed. In fact, he can sense the spirit nearby. A sly and wicked grin grows as he heads towards the presence.

"Well, well, well." He announces, raising an eyebrow and smirking down at Enji's floating spirit.

"Touya, I demand to be let out of this place." Dabi merely clicks his tongue and shakes his head, his smile growing more sinister and blue fire begins to envelope him.

"I believe that you're forgetting one thing, old man." Enji's eye narrow and watch him cautiously as Dabi takes another step closer.

"Our agreement was once that you died, I would get your soul- and if you ask me," He pauses, looking down at Enji before sweeping an arm around, "It don't look like we're on Earth anymore." 

"To-"

"Welcome to hell." He begins to laugh, stretching his maw wider until he swallows Enji whole- destroying his soul. 

*

Hawks clenches his fists and glares up at Doctor Ujiko, around them, the building gives one last shudder before it collapses from Shigaraki's touch. His group lets out a shriek in surprise and raise their arms to cover their faces. Black dust is obscuring Hawks' view but he doesn't hesitate to summon more feathers, pleading for them to seek out his group and carry them to safety. 

A massive beam falls down in front of him and Hawks shouts out, stumbling backwards. Between the still burning of Dabi's fire and the absolute carnage from Shigaraki's touch, Hawks finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He can only hope that he got everyone out in time, if his death means the end of Doctor Ujiko, he supposes that he can be happy with that. All around him, fire crackles and pops and exploding concrete fills his ears like a twisted symphony. He watches in slow motion as a block of concrete begins to tilt from above him, he's frozen in place and closes his eyes.

"Hey, this is no time to play the martyr." Glancing up, he sees Shigaraki perched on the beam and he rests his hand against the concrete, bursting it to dust. Black particles rain down around him like snow and Hawks flashes him a smile. 

Shrapnel explodes from Hawks' left and rips through Shigaraki. Silence drowns out Hawks' own screaming and Shigaraki looks down to the gaping hole in his torso. His fingers touch it gently and looks down at Hawks with a wistful smile.

"Seems that I've become the martyr." Hawks can only watch on as Shigaraki throws up a strange goopy grey consistency before exploding, the goop falls down in clumps and mixes in with the ash. 

"He was a fool." A soft voice speaks besides him, Hawks whips around to see Shigaraki slouched over and watching the steady fall of goop and ash.

"Wh-" Shigaraki side glances over to Hawks and snorts.

"Jin apparently found out about the magic of friendship," He jerks a thumb behind him and sees an army of Shigarakis clambering through the ruins, "He didn't want you to be alone with the doctor." As soon as those words leave Shigaraki's mouth, a pile of ruins burst into the sky and a twisted hand claws up. Hawks and Jin's army stop and watch as the contorted figure rises. 

Bones jut out through his skin, white shining against the pallid grey of his decaying flesh. Hawks pulls a face when the corrupted doctor looks up, chunks of grey flesh hang in pieces and his eyes are sunken into his face. Shriveled lips pull back, cracking in places- producing thick black blood that dribbles slowly down his chin, into a mocking grin and the doctor begins to laugh, blood and chunks of blackened tissue escape his lips when he laughs and Hawks balks at the sight. 

He's brought back to a childhood memory of watching The Mummy, he had been petrified of the shambling monster back then. Seeing Doctor Ujiko's decaying body walking towards him with an outstretched hand only reminds him of his fears from when he was little. 

Doctor Ujiko lurches forward, long dried and grey flesh hang in strands around his skeletal fingers and he lets out another laugh. His mouth stretches wider and Hawks wants to throw up as a multitude of centipedes burst from his mouth. He shares a glance with the Shigaraki next to him and suddenly, the blue haired monster standing by him looks like he could be Japan's next top model compared to Doctor Ujiko. 

A Shigaraki throws himself at the doctor but bursts into nothingness when Doctor Ujiko engulfs him in pure white fire. 

"How in the fuck are we gonna beat that?" Shigaraki next to him scoffs and cracks his neck.

"He's just the final boss."

"That's not at all comforting."

"There's always a way to beat the boss." A burst of flame erupts from the ground and Hawks launches himself upwards to avoid it, Shigaraki wasn't so fortunate and all that's left of him is the goop.

"Yeah, okay. Fight the final boss you said, it would be possible you said." He grumbles and careens through the sky, looking for a chance to strike. He tilts to the left as an explosion of fire is launched up towards him and he knows what he has to do. 

Nobody will be able to get close to the doctor, they'll be worn down to the edge of exhaustion and then snuffed out by him. What they need is someone who can fight fire with fire. Seeing his group moving below him, he folds his wings in and dives towards him. 

"Hawks!" Himiko shouts, smiling and pointing over to the fight, "Look what Jin did!" He smiles quickly to her, nodding and looks around the group. Everyone is in rough condition and the real Shigaraki looks like he's about to pass out. Hawks clicks his tongue and then sees a slender figure approach through the smoke. 

A blue and grey eye glows through the haze and with a raise of his right arm, the temperature instantly drops below freezing. Air puffs out from between everyone's lips and they watch as a tremendous glacier breaks from the ground, ice cracking fills their ears before it's thrown in the doctor's direction. A wall of ice bursts around them, protecting them from an explosion of steam as the glacier collides with Doctor Ujiko. 

Through the crystailline blue, they can barely make out the two silhouettes that begin to fight with fire and ice. 

"He's not going to survive out there." Himiko notes, carefully watching as Shouto dodges and weaves around white fire.

"Shouto's stronger than what you think, give him credit." Izuku blinks blearily up and Hawks frowns.

"Children shouldn't have to fight an adult's fight." 

"What do you want us to do then, Hawks? It's not like I have a potion of fire resistance on me." Spinner grumbles. Izuku also adds in that Shouto isn't a child because he's sixteen.

"That still counts as a kid." Shigaraki snaps back, red eyes narrow to the green haired teen and then Shigaraki tilts his head, turning to face Hawks with a wistful look.

"You know what you have to do."

"We are not hurling Hawks out there, are you crazy? He'll be a rotisserie chicken in five minutes!" Rumi hisses and Hawks chuckles, shaking his head.

"I'll be fine."

"Uh, look at them out there! I know that you think that you're all crazy powerful because you're half angel or whatever but you didn't even know about that until recently! How are you going to beat that?" She motions to the figure engulfed in black and almost liquid-like shadows as he makes a grab for Shouto. Shouto propels himself off of the ground with a blast of fire and hits Doctor Ujiko with shards of ice.

"Because I won't be alone." Hawks murmurs and takes out a razor sharp feather. He slices it through the barrier of ice easily and steps out of the frozen refuge. Hawks rolls back his shoulders and takes a moment to stare up at the two shadows fighting up in the sky. A frown tugs at the corner of his mouth and Hawks closes his eyes.  

He's only summoned others in a realm before and honestly has no idea if what he's about to do will even work but he can't let his doubts fog his mind. Reaching out in his mind, he pokes and prods for the familiar presence of Dabi. 

It doesn't come to his shock that he's not holed up in the realm and he moves on and away from the realm. He calls out for the wielder of the blue flames and in the far crevasses of the stretching darkness, he feels a spark of azure fire.

He doesn't need to reach out towards the spark because it latches onto his soul, hungrily. A smile flickers on his lips and he begins to reel it backwards as if he's at a lake and fishing rather than trying to even out the fight for their lives. Before he can fully pull the demon from hell, a freezing cold body crashes into him and Hawks' eyes fling open. 
An unconscious Shouto is pinning him down and Hawks tries to wiggle away but a smoking foot presses firmly against Shouto's back. 

"Your ignorance to the fact that you believe that you could defeat me is pathetic. Once I am finished here, I will bring humanity to its knees and create a new era. They will be wrought in the iron shackles of their own fear and hate. They will become as twisted and as ugly as they have deemed us. They will be the scum of society and I-"

"What is it with pretentious assholes and their love for monologues?" A tenor voice cuts through Doctor Ujiko's speech and Hawks cranes his neck over Shouto's shoulder to see a ring of furious azure hellfire and from the middle stands a tall figure with long and spiraling horns. Dabi's skin is unmarred and his pale skin is thrown in shadows and highlights from his fire. A crooked smile grows on Dabi's lips and he tilts his head, bright ice blue eyes look down at Hawks.

"What did I tell you, always up to no good." Dabi turns his attention back to Doctor Ujiko and throws his head back, laughing.

"I've spent my time living in fear and hatred, you know what happens? People rise up and destroy their oppressors, you'll be no different." Doctor Ujiko hisses and launches towards Dabi. Both demons clash together and the air explodes in scorching heat as white and blue fire combine. A wave of ice covers Shouto and Hawks right as a wave of blinding fire rushes towards them. 

"Dabi won't be able to take him down by himself." Shouto sits up and mumbles, staring up at his brother as Doctor Ujiko grabs hold of him and sets the demon on fire, even through the barrier of ice- Hawks can hear the hissing of burning flesh. Ice around them begins to crack and crumble into dust, Hawks turns around to see Shigaraki standing with the rest of the group, sans Izuku and Rumi, behind him.

"He won't be alone." Shigaraki flatly replies and dashes towards the two demons. Himiko and Jin pause to help Shouto and Hawks to their feet and everyone turns to watch Shigaraki launch towards Doctor Ujiko without hesitating. 

"Time to take names and kick ass!" Jin shouts and doubles over, letting his second form take shape. Hawks and Shouto share a knowing nod before Hawks unfurls his wings, taking to the air as Shouto rises with him under a pillar of ice. 

"We need to distract Doctor Ujiko long enough for Dabi to finish him off." Hawks shouts over the screaming of the wind and Shouto nods. Hawks looks over, seeing determination burning in the teenager's eyes.

"Don't get close to him, use these and stay out his reach." Hawks summons more feathers and sends them Shouto's way, Shouto grabs hold of the crimson feathers and sets them on fire, hurtling them down towards the doctor. They watch from above as the feathers pierce through Doctor Ujiko's thin skin and red fire begins to coat him. Hawks flies away from Shouto and his barrage of flaming feathers and he swoops around, sending razor sharp feathers of his own down towards the doctor. 

Between being attacked by everyone and Dabi, Doctor Ujiko begins to fall back, snarling like a rabid animal. Sunken eyes roll madly and he shrieks, a twenty foot pillar of fire begins to swirl into a tornado and at the eye of the storm, only Dabi and Doctor Ujiko stand. Everyone else falls back to a safer distance and Shigaraki curses under his breath. Hawks lands down next to him and studies the two demons fighting from the swirling vortex of white and blue. 

Green lighting crackles around them, turning around, they see Izuku standing with his arms outreached towards the dark sky. Hawks watches in awe as the green lightening covers his whole body and Izuku brings a hand up towards the fire, taking a middle finger against his thumb- he flicks the finger and a massive bolt of green lightening travels from his body and blasts towards the fire. Hawks squints against the explosion of light, bringing a hand to shield his eyes, he sees Dabi standing over a quickly disintegrating form of Doctor Ujiko. 

Black liquid bubbles around Doctor Ujiko and he lets out a dry laugh.

"This form may be useless now, but that will not stop me." Dabi presses a clawed foot against the doctor's chest and stomps down. A mass of black rises up from the body and swirls around angrily. It looms over everyone and a booming laughter shakes the ruined grounds around them. Hawks feels a warmth of energy filling his body and looking down, he sees the feather in his hand coated in a soft and glowing gold light. A voice in his head tells him that it will serve as the weapon to bring an end of the demon. 

The feather in his hand begins to quiver and with a mind of its own, shoots out and lands right in the center of the demonic mass. Silence falls around them and then from the inside, golden light cracks through the black cloud, steadily growing brighter and brighter until it swells and envelopes the demon. Screaming can be heard for a fraction of a second before the gold light implodes and brings an end to the demon. 

Dabi looks over his shoulder at Hawks, his bright blue eyes shining with admiration and excitement.

"Damn, remind me to never get on your bad side." Everyone gathers around Hawks, cheering and he looks around his group. They're all beat up and exhausted but there's a fire in their eyes and even though they all look like a soft gust of wind could blow them over, they stand tall and proud.

A warm hand takes hold of his own and Hawks looks up to see Dabi smiling down at him, before he had been unmarred but now he sees the demon covered in purple burns once again. Dabi picks up on his lingering gaze and shrugs with a growing crooked smile.

"I like 'em, they give me character." Through the smell of burnt and singed flesh, Hawks can't smell the familiar burning sulfur from Dabi and instead there's a warm smell to him, a hint of cinnamon that serves as an undertone to a more strong scent of a bonfire on a warm summer night. 

Hawks finally succumbs to his aching muscles and bucks to his knees, Dabi knees next to him and gently cups his face between his hands. The realization on what just happened hits him all at once and he lets out a soft and choked sob, his eyes pooling with tears. Dabi snorts and catches a tear with his thumb and gazes longingly at Hawks with a look so soft that he feels like he can just drift away in the turquoise. 

All around them, the noise dies down and Hawks feels like he's thousands of miles away from everyone else. He's not scared this time though, in his bubble, Dabi sits with him- reminding him that he's never truly alone. With a shaking hand, he grabs hold of Dabi's shirt and pulls him forward. 

Their lips crash together nearly awkwardly but Hawks doesn't care. He relishes in the softness of Dabi's warm lips and feels the curving of a growing smile on Dabi's lips. Hawks brings his hands up and runs them through Dabi's thick and coarse hair as Dabi deepens the kiss. 

"I was so-" Hawks starts, furrowing his eyebrows and clings closer to Dabi as the demon softly sighs.

"Shh," Dabi hushes Hawks, "I'm here now and I ain't goin' anywhere." He murmurs quietly over Hawks' lips and he nods.

"Hey! Get a room you two!" Suddenly, their private bubble is popped by Jin's loud shout and Hawks pulls away with a chuckle. Shigaraki looks down at them once and rolls his eyes before he motions everyone to follow him. 

They stand over the ruined remains of the facility and Spinner kicks at a still burning beam.

"What do we do now?" Himiko asks, her ochre eyes roll over everyone and in turn, they look at Shigaraki. Slowly, he faces back towards them, a grim smile on his cracked lips.

"We're gonna be legends."

"How?" Jin asks and Shigaraki turns his gaze up to the night sky, seeing the moon for the first time in fifteen years. 

"Because, we're going to get their attention and then teach them a lesson. Eventually they're gonna know who's right. The truth will be a weapon to fight this world of ill intentions. This isn't the only facility around that does this shit to people like us, they'll learn. Oh, they'll learn." 

Hawks takes a sip from his coffee and through the steam he quietly studies everyone that's crowded into the small room. He shares a look with Spinner, rolling his eyes dramatically and takes another drink of the coffee. He stretches out his legs and sighs, running a hand through his ashy hair. Shigaraki stops talking and looks at him expectantly.

"Is there something that you would like to contribute?" It's a question posing as a dare to challenge him and Hawks leans back into the wooden chair and smiles up at him.

"Not at all, please, continue." Himiko snorts and from the corner of his eye, Kurogiri shakes his head. Dabi offers Hawks a crooked smile and rests a warm hand on his leg. Shigaraki gives him one final pointed glare before going over their next plan of action. 

It has been one year since their breakout of facility 0413. One year since everyone had stood at the cliff side on the outskirts of town and feeling wind against their skin as they finally get their taste of freedom. 

One year since Izuku had waggled his fingers and mumbled some words, casting some illusion over them- making them appear entirely human. Shigaraki still tilts dangerously in the underfed and overly tired department but seeing him with just two arms, makes him look almost normal. Almost. Hawks figures that Shigaraki will never appear normal, not with his wavy and unruly blue hair, deep ruby eyes and the signature scarring over his lips and right eye. Just the thought of him with a more natural hair and eye color makes him crack up, earning another glare from Shigaraki. 

Dabi probably had a dramatic change almost rivaling that of Shigaraki. His horns remain shrouded and instead of his almost animalistic legs, he has a normal pair of human legs. His teeth are no longer as pointed but he did ask to keep them pointed enough just to be slightly off putting when dealing with humans. To no one's surprise, he also asked to keep his scarring- claiming that he wants to look at them to remind himself that even demons can change and be rebirthed, straying from the norms of banding together to bring an end to everything good.  

Himiko and Jin haven't changed at all. Himiko outright refused Izuku's offer to help her blend in more, the only noticeable thing about her being the sharp points of her canines. She begged to keep them, adamant that they look cute. Jin already looks entirely human until he hurls himself into sicko mode.

Seeing Spinner and Kurogiri in human form still sits weird with Hawks, if he stares at them for too long- he can pick up imperfections. Kurogiri's form seems to have no pores whatsoever and Spinner has teeth that are just slightly too sharp for a human to have. Nonetheless, they're unsettling to look at. Both of them know this, Kurogiri seems to hang back in the shadows while Spinner uses it to his advantage when heckling others. 

Hawks, himself, doesn't change much- just the shrouding of his wings. He knows that they're there though so he's not too hung up at the fact of appearing like a normal human again, if he begins to feel trapped, all it takes is to just reach behind himself and his fingers will brush against his shrouded wings. 

He wonders if the others feel like strangers within their façade too.

One year since they've broken out and they all have decided to stick together, letting Shigaraki lead them from place to place, like a shepard guiding his flock of sheep. They're certainly not sheep though, more like wolves in sheep's clothing.

Since breaking out, they've heard news of other branches of The Federal H.E.R.O. Safety Commission are hidden throughout Japan. Shigaraki and everyone else had firmly agreed that they will infiltrate each and every facility and bringing an end to the Commission. 

For shits and giggles, Shigaraki had named their group The League of Villains.