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Who was Hawks? Search up his name and you'd see the #2 hero. A strong, lovable hero. A brave, beautiful man. A man too fast for his own good. A man who had his whole life ahead of him. A man who had such a bright future.
A man who got all of that taken away by one person. A man who wasn't the #2 hero anymore. A man who wasn't brave, who wasn't beautiful, who didn't have a bright future. All taken by one person.
Blue flames were forever burned into his brain. Reminding him of who he used to be. Reminding him of what he once was. Reminding him of how happy he was.
A sharp pain shot through his back, the ghost feeling of wings still there. The empty feeling on his back was unbearable. It was like they were still there, but they weren't. They were burnt to ashes.
His back hurt. It hurt so much. Not just the burns. The ghost of a feeling. The ghosts that used to be his wings. His big, bright, beautiful vermilion wings. The wings that made him...him. The wings that made Hawks...Hawks. There was no Hawks without those wings. There was no fastest hero without those wings. There was no Keigo without those wings.
He hesitantly got out of the cold hospital bed he was laying in, the hospital gown rubbing uncomfortably on his back, making him twitch. He slowly walked to the large window that filled the entire left wall, and saw so many people outside. Just going about their day, enjoying life as it is. Like nothing ever happened. Like there was no war. Like many people didn't die during the war.
He placed a hand flatly against the glass, staring at his broken reflection. He was so pale. Bandages covering half his face, the bit of skin showing looked sickly. His wild blonde hair slicked back with old sweat. When was the last time he showered before all of this? He stunk. But, Doctors orders. Water would overwhelm the burns that were desperately trying to heal.
His eyes looked so empty. Almost like they weren't even there. The bright honey color now a pale yellow. He looked so depressing. One look at him, and you'd see a weak, vulnerable man. A man who didn't have anyone there with him, a man who knew he was never going to be fixed.
He didn't recognize himself. This wasn't him. He wasn't this weak. He wished for this all to be some horrible nightmare. He wished that when he woke up from this nightmare, he'd go about his day like normally. Stretch his wings, and fly till the sun set and the stars showed.
A soft sigh left his lips. He imagined who he actually was beneath this broken shell. He was Hawks beneath it, right now he was Keigo. He didn't want to be Keigo. He didn't want to be the flightless bird. He wanted to fly, feel the wing in his hair, hear the loud sound of wind passing by.
When will Hawks return? When will Keigo go away? When will this bird fly again?
He took his hand off the glass, and looked around the hospital room he has been in for weeks now. The smell of different kinds of medicine filled his senses, the plain white color of the room made him bored. There was nothing to entertain himself. He wasn't allowed his phone, he wasn't allowed a TV, he wasn't allowed anything really. Books, but that's it. He barely even liked reading, so he wasn't going to get any books any time soon. All he had been doing is sleeping, rolling around in the uncomfortable hospital bed, or counting each tile on the ceiling to pass time until a nurse came to give him food and change his bandages.
There were 76 tiles on the ceiling, he could tell you that. The bed felt like rock. No one would want to sleep in it, but he has to. Every night. And the food tasted horrible. He hated hospital food. Even if it was healthy, it tasted like trash.
This wasn't him. He's never lived like this before. He used to have a big, comfy bed, high quality take out, a large TV to entertain himself. He never had to count ceiling tiles, or stare into space for hours. But... He has to now.
Where was Hawks? Who was Hawks? Where was Keigo? Who was Keigo?
They were in the same place. They were completely different. They weren't the same. They were two completely different people. One was strong, one was not. One was happy, one was not.
Hawks was gone. And Keigo was here.