Chapter Text
Tokoyami isn’t sure about this idea, despite following Hawks to the end of the pier. His boots can’t grip the wooden slabs well, slipping on the slick and runny surface as the thunderstorm continues to pelt down on the two of them. His cloak is waterproof, thankfully, but the chill still permeates past the thick fabric despite sheets of rainwater sliding down his coat, toppling over the brim of his hood and obscuring his vision.
In front of him, Hawks walks through the rain calmly, as if the water doesn’t bother him. But Tokoyami can tell from the subtle hunch of Hawks’ shoulders and the routine shake of his dark red wings that Hawks isn’t calm. The lines of his form are tense, tight with silent anger and frustration. The student studies Hawks’ back as the hero finally stops at the edge of the dock, shielding his eyes momentarily from the wind and rain as he peers out into the dark recesses of the expansive ocean before them.
The hero looks very small in comparison. Try as he might, Tokoyami doesn’t hold much faith in these conditions.
“Nasty storm, huh?” Hawks comments as Tokoyami comes up behind him. The hero turns around, grinning cockily as he challengingly raises an eyebrow. “Still wanna follow me, pipsqueak?”
“This isn’t a good idea, Hawks,” Tokoyami says for the umpteenth time that night, warily glancing at the waves below them. The water is so dark, he can hardly make out the waves. Tokoyami can see massive shadows rising and falling all around them, swelling with power and sinking meters deep with whatever prey they managed to seize. Thunder rumbles overheard, booming over the screams of the waves. A mere warning for what’s about to come. “Even with your experience, this is still dangerous. And I’ve barely adapted to flying in windy weather. This is several levels above that.”
“Whatever,” Hawks scoffs, turning back to face the ocean waves. His wings extend to their full wingspan, massively overshadowing Tokoyami as they prepare to lift off. “Don’t know why I asked. I’ll go out for a little joyride by myself, then.”
Tokoyami grumbles to himself as Hawks finally lifts off, surging through the howling winds through sheer willpower alone. He sucks in a shaky breath, mentally preparing himself as he calls up Dark Shadow from the depths of his soul. The shadow monster oozes out of him, brimming with dark power that was almost limitless due to the low visibility and chaotic nature of the storm.
“Are you sure about this, Fumikage?” Dark Shadow asks, voice growling with the massive power stored within him. Tokoyami takes another steadying breath before nodding.
“Hawks isn’t invulnerable,” Tokoyami responds, lifting his arms as Dark Shadow’s massive claws wrap around him. He takes solace in the fact that flying is easier with Dark Shadow at full power. Despite the storm giving him doubts at the edges of his mind, Tokoyami can never shake the invincible feeling he gets when Dark Shadow emerges from his body at night. “Very few heroes on patrol are watching the oceans, or capable of flying in this weather. I may be the only person around who can accompany him.”
“Then just hope nothing bad happens,” Dark Shadow growls as he lifts them into the air, fighting the winds. “Those waves don’t look mighty friendly.”
Tokoyami risks a glance down and instantly regrets it. High up in the sky, meters away from the Kyushu shorelines, the ocean was a yawning void of darkness begging for captives to pull down under. Tokoyami shakes his head, focusing on squinting through the haze of water droplets to plot their course through the storm.
He sees Hawks’ distant form, easily distinguishable due to the bright nature of his clothes. The hero was clearly fighting against the storm with a stubborn set to his shoulders, wings flapping wildly to power through the winds. Tokoyami clenches his jaw, deciding to focus his gaze on Hawks’ back instead of the waters below.
Hawks has always flown these skies alone. I won’t let him do that anymore.
“Looks like you’ve got some balls on you, after all,” Hawks jokes when Tokoyami and Dark Shadow finally draw even beside him moments later. Tokoyami glares at him from under his hood, taking petty satisfaction in the fact that Hawks’ head was unprotected from the storm. The hero’s blond hair was soaked to the last strand, messily slicked back as Hawks squints through the rain to watch the sky for potential signs of trouble. “Thought I’d fly back and leave you on the dock. Make you walk those twenty minutes again.”
“You’re so full of yourself,” Tokoyami mutters, but his words are halted by another rumble from the clouds above them. Tokoyami glances up, frowning when he sees lingering flickers of light running fleetingly through the clouds. “I thought you said this was just a thunderstorm. It looks like lightning’s about to start hitting the ground, soon.”
“Lightning?” Tokoyami watches as Hawks squints at the clouds, observing the small flashes of light through them. “Shit. I guess the reports were wrong, then.”
“Is that bad?”
“Nah. Lightning favors the most conductive path. And usually, that’s the air around us.”
“But we’re in the air.” Tokoyami can’t help glancing back down at the waves. They’re farther away from the shores, now, with the pier a mile or so away from them. “Isn’t it also bad to be in high places when lightning’s about to come?”
“Come on , Tsukuyomi,” Hawks says, exasperated. He rolls his eyes and gives Tokoyami an annoyed look. “Stop whining so much. If anything, you should only be concerned if lightning has a natural attraction to you or something. I doubt that, especially since you’re the embodiment of all things dark and gloomy—”
Tokoyami doesn’t get to hear the rest of Hawks’ insult as their surroundings suddenly light up. There’s a sudden blazing heat to his right, fiery and sizzling. Tokoyami only sees the last flickers of electricity fizzling up from directly underneath them as the world turns dark again, thunder snarling around them.
“Woo-hoo!” Hawks cackles, wings beating happily in the wind. Tokoyami can’t quite free himself from the terror that suddenly overtook his body, rendering him stiff and unresponsive to the Wing Hero’s glee. “That one came pretty close! Happy now, kid?”
“Can we please go back?” Tokoyami says with a tremor to his voice, glancing up at the skies again. Before, he thought the threat lay in the oceans beneath them. Now, he isn’t so sure. “You’re done throwing a temper tantrum, right? Let’s go back now.”
“Fine.” Hawks’ wings tip over, making the hero swoop into a 180 degree turn. “Don’t know why you insisted on following me out here if you were just gonna bring me down. Next time, I’ll just ditch you—”
Hawks doesn’t get to finish when another bolt of lightning strikes. But this time, Tokoyami doesn’t have room for pause.
Because the lightning strike hits Dark Shadow directly, causing the night-fueled monster to blink out of existence entirely.
“HAWKS!”
“TSUKUYOMI!”
Tokoyami is filled with a newfound sense of terror as he starts freefalling into the greedy waves of the blackened oceans below. He grits his teeth as he catches sight of Hawks and his feathers thrown back by a sudden gust of wind, tumbling away from their attempted rescue. Tokoyami doesn’t even have time to judge whether he should take a deep breath yet before he’s plunging straight into the waves.
The freezing waters are terrifyingly silent.
Tokoyami finds himself breathing in a lungful of frigid saltwater as he’s suddenly thrust back up to the surface. He coughs, but there’s no time for reprieve as the rocky swells of the ocean’s waves crash down on him once again, making him tumble through the inky depths. Tokoyami can’t see anything. It’s almost pitch-black, and his surroundings only light up when another lightning strike hits. Tokoyami can’t even tell up from down at this point, tumbling through the choppy currents as he’s pulled every which way by the will of the ocean.
(He’s scared.)
There’s no way Hawks will be able to find him in the water. Tokoyami suddenly finds himself breaching air once again as he lets out a gasp. He manages to get a quick look of his surroundings, but only sees water before another shadowed wave brings him back under once again.
Where are you, Hawks? Tokoyami thinks to himself as he finally starts fighting back. He tries to force his way to the surface, intent on remaining afloat for hope of Hawks spotting him, but Tokoyami quickly finds the effort fruitless from how carelessly the waves toss him about. Not to mention that the brief flashes of light are getting dimmer.
Tokoyami suddenly realizes the ocean is pulling him deeper underwater.
No, no, no, no! Tokoyami struggles to prevent himself from falling any further, trying to resist the burn in his lungs as his air supply slowly runs out of fumes. The boy tries once more to kick his way to the surface, but strength is quickly fading from his limbs as the ocean beats back every attempt at swimming. I don’t want to drown. I don’t want to drown! Hawks—!
Something latches onto Tokoyami’s cloak and pulls. Tokoyami can’t even register the surprise of seeing Hawks’ arms wrap around him before they’re shooting out of the waves, escaping the silence of the deadly ocean and reentering the chaotic environment of rushing winds and tumultuous spray. Tokoyami coughs weakly, feeling his lungs contracting violently as Hawks quickly speeds them toward the nearest shore and sets Tokoyami down on the rocky shores.
“Don’t fight it. Let your lungs do the work,” Hawks orders quickly, practically forcing Tokoyami into a crouched position. Tokoyami can’t even protest as he hurls up the seawater, wincing from the burn of his lungs and throat. Hawks is patting his back, muttering several things to him. Tokoyami can’t really hear him over the furious beating of his own heart, so he only focuses on regaining control as his body revolts against seawater.
The spasms finally settle after a while, his body allowing him to breathe again. Tokoyami releases some of the tension in his shoulders, wiping away the spittle from his jaw as Hawks’ words finally start filtering through his haze.
“Relax, it’s okay now,” Hawks murmurs, making Tokoyami pause. “You’re safe.”
“…I’m safe ?” Tokoyami hisses, gritting his teeth. His voice is gritty due to the damage the saltwater had done to his windpipes. Tokoyami glares darkly at Hawks over his shoulder, feeling a sudden fury overwhelm him. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just listened to me!”
“I—”
“What is with you and your death wishes?!” Tokoyami shouts, adrenaline fueling his rage as he swats Hawks’ arm off him. The hero’s expression pinches, but Tokoyami continues, emboldened by the minimal risk of Dark Shadow going on an emotional rampage through the streets. Dark Shadow’s eerie silence fuels him further. The loss of his lifetime companion constantly grates at his mind as Tokoyami finally releases his anger against his mentor. “You’re always flying straight into danger without thinking about yourself! No one would’ve been able to catch you if you had gone out there alone to be hit by that lightning strike!”
“Toko—”
“And I don’t want to be the one who has to fucking chase you all the time!” Tokoyami snaps. “Because it’s scary as hell and I’m not ready for any of it!”
Blue flames trail after a speedy presence. Bursting into the scene of a killing. Stubbornly holding a powerless hero in his arms. Terror overtaking him as blazing palms trap them and heat up with the promise of death.
(Tokoyami wasn’t ready. But the world isn’t so kind.)
“…Sorry, kid.” To his credit, Hawks does look regretful, soaked to the bone and exuding none of his usual cockiness. Hawks also looks shaken, for some reason. Tokoyami’s not feeling particularly understanding right now, though, so the boy merely scoffs and turns away his head. However, Tokoyami doesn’t move away when Hawks tentatively reaches out for him again. “I’ll be less stupid next time. I swear.”
“You better be,” Tokoyami grunts as he coughs out the last recesses of seawater. He feels Hawks’ arm wrap around his back and pull him against his chest, hugging him tightly. For what, Tokoyami doesn’t know. “My mom is going to kill you if she finds out you did this to me.”
“Shit,” Hawks chuckles weakly, scratching his head. Tokoyami doesn’t protest as Hawks suddenly stands and picks him up, carrying him in a fireman’s hold. “I’ll keep that in mind. Let’s get you checked out at the agency.”
“I’m not hurt,” Tokoyami wheezes, hissing a little as his vocal chords protest. He tries to wriggle out of Hawks’ hold, but he’s weak from fighting the waves. Tokoyami can literally feel his arms shaking as they try to push away the hero. “It was just water.”
Hawks tuts at him. His wings propel them upwards once again as the hero takes them into the skies once again.
“You’re fine when you can talk back to me in a regular voice,” Hawks responds, eyes focused ahead as he navigates. This time Tokoyami doesn’t argue, succumbing to the fatigue as Hawks carefully brings him back to the hero agency.