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His feet hit the ground, fallen branches cracked under his weight. He only had one shoe on. An arrow whistled past his right ear, causing him to cry out in surprise. Takami Izuku just wanted to go home, he didn’t want to be lost in the woods. Being chased by someone who he doesn’t even know.
He’d been taken from his walk from school, shoved into the back of a truck before being knocked out. They had snapped the necklace with Kei’s feather.
Though Izuku had a feeling that his papa bird knew something was wrong. The greenette never took the feather necklace off, not even when he showered. Hitoshi was the same way, using the feather to ground himself when he was panicking.
When he came to, Hitoshi was next to him, hands tied behind his back. A muzzle firmly in place, keeping him from talking. The moment the two men took the muzzle off his brother, untying the two. They never answered any question, just told them that they’d give the brothers a head start.
Hitoshi and Izuku raced into the woods, trying to get away from the psycho’s chasing them. The first day in the woods, the brothers managed to stay away.
But then they ran into the campsite, meeting a boy their age. Watching as two arrows pierced the adults in front of them. They didn’t need to check them over to know they had died.
Izuku wanted a shower and his parent, that's all. But what scared him the most, was that he didn’t think he’d be getting out of the woods alive. He feared that this was going to be the end, he’d never get into UA. Never telling his father he loved him again.
Izuku knew he needed to get those thoughts out of his head. He needs to focus on catching back up with the other two. He needed to find a way out of these woods.
He’d been separated from his brother, who was also taken, and a random boy who had been camping. The boy was different, but in a good way. Izuku hoped to learn more about the boy if they’d survived this horror movie. They tried staying together, but then the two guys showed up and they split up. They had been using bird calls to communicate, but Hitoshi hadn’t responded.
So the two decided to race back over to where he’d last called. Izuku didn’t think he’d be caught doing so, but here he was. Being chased by a hunter, hunting him.
The greenette screamed again as the arrow nicked his ear this time. Blood ran into his ear and down his neck, washing away the dirt and grim. Izu was tired, he hadn’t slept in three days, too afraid to stop running.
“Greenie!” Izuku ran right into Hitoshi, knocking the two down onto the leaf-ridden ground. Which in turn saved the two from an incoming arrow aimed for their chests. That could have killed both of them.
“Up!” Izuku cried out as he pulled his purple haired brother up to his feet. The two started running again, an arrow thumping into the tree just in front of them. “Come on!”
Hitoshi yelped as Izuku pulled them into a river. Hitoshi let go of his brother's hand before swimming deeper into the river. Touching the bottom, he moved across, hoping this was going to lose the two following them.
Hitoshi lugged himself out of the river, shivering as the wind hit him. His clothes clung heavily to his skin, causing him to start pulling at them. “Izu?” He called out softly, not wanting to alert anyone other than his brother. Hitoshi looked at the water, waiting to see his brother's head pop up, only he didn’t see anything.
The amethyst boy felt his heart start to sink and panic clenched at his chest. He could lose his brother, no, not Izuku. The two had been at the same orphanage, they’d run away together, lived homeless together. They meet their Papa bird together. Hitoshi couldn’t let his brother get killed this early in the game.
He was going to see his brother become the first Quirkless hero in Japan. They were going to open an agency together, Izuku would be a limelight hero, while Hitoshi became an Underground hero.
“Toshi!” Relief flooded Hitoshi as he saw his brother pull himself out of the river. He was missing both shoes, and his feet were bleeding, but he was alive and that's all that mattered.
The brother hugged each other tightly before forcing themselves back into the woods. They were both shivering heavily by the time the sun went down. The wind was harsh on their skin as the sky above them started to get darker with clouds.
They blocked out the moon, leaving them in pitch black nothingness.
“Green? Purple?” The two’s head’s snapped around, trying to pinpoint the voice. “You guys ok?” The boy asked as he lit his hand on fire. Blue fire engulfed their hand. He titled his head slightly when he saw the shivering boys and the multicolored boy’s heart ached.
The white and red haired boy quickly set up a fire, using his flames, so no smoke could be seen. He had made them take their shirts off first, using his quirk to get them to dry faster.
“We never got your name.” The heterochromia boy looked over at them from his spot near the fire. Izuku had found the boy intriguing and he definitely was cute.
“Oh, Todoroki Shoto , just call me Shoto.” They blanched at his last name, though the multicolored boy just waved them off. “They don’t know I’m alive, because my older brother took me away from the abuse.” Shoto laughed lightly as he started making shapes and animals run around the air.
“Warm up boys.” They nodded, deciding it was best to listen to the boy. He had helped them, and was also a victim to the two men trying to kill them.
With that Shoto nodded at them before disappearing into the darkness. The brothers thought he was weird and mysterious.
“Remember when we snuck into that one amusement park?” Hitoshi asked as he leaned on Izuku, laying his head on Izu's shoulder. “That nice family had seen us and bought us fast passes.” Hitoshi let out a water laugh as he felt his eyes start watering.
“Yep, it was the day we met Papa bird.” Izu breathed as he looked up at the dark sky. He knew it was going to rain soon, and they’d have no place to hide from it. “He only came over to us because of my Hawks swim shorts.” Izuku wanted to cry, his whole body was sore and his feet were in agony. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.
Izuku didn’t want to leave his brother, but he was tired of running. He was so tired. But Zuku wasn’t going to give up, he had people waiting for him. A parent who loved him so much that he knew this hurt. It was almost like he could feel his pain.
“I know, he bought us so much stuff, then made us his secretaries! I still remember the look on his face when he followed us home one night.”
“He almost cried.” Hitoshi hummed as he closed his eyes, trying to pretend he was in the nest. Cuddling up to Papa birds side, tv playing Criminal Minds. “He made us leave our old clothes, then flew up to his apartment.”
“Remember that one time, during that drug bust?” Hitoshi exhaled softly. He couldn’t forget that night. “We got there a whole hour earlier, and got welcomed into the gang.” Izuku laughed as he recalled the memory. “When he showed up, I thought he was going to kill us.”
“How about that one time we both came home with bruises and cuts.” Izuku nodded, remembering that day vividly. “He cleaned us up and wouldn’t stop asking what had happened. So when we finally told him he went all Mama bird on us.”
“That’s also the day he gave us a feather to hold into.”
“I want to go home, Hito.” Izuku couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. He started crying into his arms, starburst scars littered them. “I want Keigo, I want dad.” The younger one sobbed into Hitoshi’s shoulder, letting go of the emotions he’d been holding.
“Me too Izuku, me too.” Hitoshi nodded, looking up at the sky, all he could see was the outline of trees, and black nothingness. He wanted home as well. Play video games, petting the cat they had rescued one night. Eating chicken nuggets and making jokes.
Hitoshi wanted home, just like Izuku.
----
“Looky here.” Izuku jumped up, grabbing Hitoshi before starting to run. They had fallen asleep sometime during the night, exhaustion finally hitting them after days in the woods.
“Gotta love the chase.” He heard the younger one laugh. Izuku’s grip on his brother's hand tightened as fear took over his body. He just wanted to be home. His feet hurt, his ear hurt, his whole body ached from the constant running.
“Greenie!” Hitoshi yelled, gripping his brother's hand back just as tightly. “What about Shoto?” Izuku looked back, almost running into a tree if it wasn’t for Hitoshi tugging him out of the way.
“He wasn’t there!” He yelled back as they two ducked, just missing an arrow. The two wanted to cry, they were scared, but the adrenaline in their bodies kept their tears in. Izuku was always the ‘crybaby’, but that was because no one ever took his feelings into account. He was never comforted as a child.
“Ah!” Hitoshi cried out as Izuku tripped over a branch, taking the older one with him. The two tumbled down a hill, leaves getting into their mouths, hair and eyes.
----
“It has been four fucking days!” Hawks, Takami Keigo, yelled at Nezu, his wings ruffled and disheveled looking. He had bags under his bloodshot eyes. “And you're telling me you still can’t find them!” The rat god felt a shiver run up his spine. His instincts tell him to run away and hide from the predator in front of him.
“Hawks, I promise we are doing everything in our power to try and find you kids.”
“Not good enough!” Keigo was scared, he had Izuku’s necklaces snap. But never his feathers, causing him to rush off to find the baby birds. The only thing he had found were the necklaces thrown off to the side of the street.
Izuku’s dark green backpack had been thrown over a fence, hidden in tall grass. A needle was laying near the necklace and Keigo knew. He knew Izuku had been taken. He only hoped that he was able to find him, Keigo knew he could. Kei promised the young boy that he'd find him.
Then he felt the same thing happen to Hitoshi’s necklace and he almost lost it.
Keigo could lose both his baby birds, his nestlings that had barely gotten to live their lives. Keigo had called Rumi in a panic, barely breathing as he told her what had happened.
“You better hope we find them alive.” The number three hero growled out before slamming the door behind him.
Teachers looked at him, some in curiosity on why he was there again, and others in pity. Eracerhead, civilian name Aizawa Shouta, knew about Hawk’s kids. Two 13-year-olds he’d taken in when they were 10. They had been living on the street since the age of 7.
“Izu! Come one! We need to go!” Keigo brisled as his feather picked up on the conversation. A small feather, not something that could really be detected by the winged hero.
His baby birds were alive and that's all he ever wanted to know. His little gremlin children were alive and terrified.
“Toshi… I can’t walk anymore.”
Izuku’s voice was quiet and solemn, like he knew he wasn’t going to make it. Keigo gritted his teeth as anger spiked through his body. The greenatte was so hurt that he couldn’t walk.
“Get out of here Hitoshi, run and don’t look back ok?”
“I’m not going to leave you! You remember our promise right? You remember?!”
What fucking promise?! He was glad that Hitoshi wasn’t going to leave Izuku, who was definitely hurt.
“The one from when we were seven?”
He was even more curious about this promise, though it sounded more like a pack.
“That's the one, Greenie.”
----
“What's that in your hair?” Hitoshi asked as he helped Izuku walk. The younger boy had broken his ankle, and wasn’t able to walk on his own anymore.
Izuku said nothing as Hitoshi plucked it out of his head, his eyes widening. “Papa bird...”
“Break it!” Izuku yelled as an arrow hit the tree to their left. “He’ll be here!” Purple one broke the feather before taking off deeper into the woods. Fear and relief gripped them tightly.
“Come on!” Purple yelled as he tried to run with green limping heavily. The boy was leaning so heavily on Hitoshi. “We can survive this!” The boys ran, hearing the extra footsteps behind them.
“You like killin’?” Hitoshi asked as he turned his head to look at the two. Hoping and praying, one of them answered him. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He’d been fighting against people his whole life, just hoping to survive another year.
“Yeah.” One of them replied, making Hitoshi grin feraly at the older one. The younger one grimised.
“Shot your partner.” The older one pulled out a gun, causing the green and purple boy’s eyes to widen. The reality hit them like a train, they could have been shot dead.
Izuku gritted his teeth before turning around and started running. Hitoshi jumped as he heard the gun shot, it rang out through the woods. Birds screamed above them, flying away from the noise.
Izuku could feel the bones in his ankle grind together, causing twice the amount of pain. But they couldn’t stop running, no, one of them had a gun.
Another shot rang out and Izuku watched in horror as Hitoshi fell. Blood soaked through his shirt as he cried out in pain. “Toshi!” Izuku fell to his knees and quickly put pressure on the bullet wound in his brother's shoulder.
“Toshi! Come one, it’s ok!” The greenette cried as his brother's blood soaked his hands. The lavender boy chuckled lightly, pushing his younger brother off of him.
“It doesn’t hurt as bad as being shoved off a bridge.” Izuku let the older one up. They looked at each other as another gun shot rang out. “No time to think!”
“We need to split up! He can’t follow both of us!” The greenette shouted before starting to run away from Hitoshi. He wasn’t going to let his brother get hurt again.
“Izu!” The purple haired boy yelled. He didn’t want to leave his younger brother. They had been through hell together and didn’t want to leave him. Hitoshi didn’t want to lose his brother.
“We’ll find each other!” The greenette yelled as they went further away from each other. “We alway do!” He was panting, his ribs screamed in agony from the fall. Every breath hurt, but he couldn’t stop running.
Izuku ran his hand through his hair, grabbing the hilt of a knife. He’d hadn’t even remembered it was there, not till they had found the feather. The amount of things he’d hidden in his hair was insane. Not many people decided to check if someone had hid a knife in their hair.
Even though it hurt to move his ankle, Izuku climbed up the tree. Knife in between his teeth, blood dripping out of his mouth. He was breathing heavily as settled on a branch high enough he couldn’t be seen, but low enough he wouldn’t die if he fell.
He’d heard the older man chasing him. He was glad Hitoshi had made it away safely. The greenette knew Hitoshi could do anything with his shoulder. Even if he’d told Izuku, the younger brother didn’t believe him.
“I know you’re here, you little shit!” Izu held his breath as the man got closer to the tree. He watched as bright blue hair popped up below him. He didn’t bother to look up.
Izuku quickly dropped down on the man, blade slicing through the blue haired shoulder. Izuku cried out as he felt his arm snap back, totally breaking. His left arm hung limply by his side.
The greenette grabbed the knife with his good hand and stabbed it right into the man's stomach. Izuku’s hands were shaking and he felt like throwing up.
Deciding he didn’t want the knife back, Izuku left it in the now groaning man and ran. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he could barely see where he was going.
“Hitoshi!” Izuku yelled, hoping to get some response. He needs to hear his brother. Izuku didn’t know what he’d do if his brother had bled out, dying alone in the woods. That wasn’t something the greenette wanted to think about. “Hitoshi!”
“Izuku…!” Izuku’s eyes widened, he’s brother was still alive, wandering around the woods. Izuku stopped running, trying to figure out which way his brother's voice had come from.
“Toshi!” Izu called out again, his heart was beating out of his chest, he just wanted to go home. He wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a month, not waking up. “Where are you!” With his brother and Papa bird by his side of course.
“Hitoshi! Izuku!” Just as the brothers meet in the middle, their fathers voice echoed through the forest. The two looked at each other, facing breaking out into a grin. They were saved, they could finally go home.
“Papa bird!” The two shouted as loud as they could. Pinpointing their spot to Keigo. In a flash of red, the two were pulling into the shaking figure of their dad.
“Oh thank god…” Keigo breathed out as he gripped his kids harder. He had found them, they were hurt, yes, but they were alive. That's what he cared about. They were alive and breathing. “Are you two ok?” He pulled them away from his body, but didn’t take his hands off their shoulders.
“Hitoshi got shot in the shoulder.” Izu pointed to the purple heavily bleeding shoulder. The blood was dripping down his arms and onto the ground.
“Izuku has a broken ankle, arm and ribs.” The older one pointed out, causing the younger one to glare up to him.
“I’m fine Toshi! You’re literally bleeding more than me!” Keigo felt his shoulder relax even more. Feeling a smile tug at his lips, he had missed them. Even with all the bickering and chaos they brought into his life.
“Can you not fight over who’s injured more?! You’re both hurt.”
“Sorry Papa bird.” They looked down at their feet, before looking up and slamming their bodys back into Keigo. Tightly hugging the hero, shoulders shaking, the only sign that they had started crying.
“Can we go home, dad?”
“Yeah, we can go home.” With that, Keigo gently lifted up the two teens, who were still gripping him tightly. Out of the corner of Izuku’s eye, he saw a man covered in scars. He watched as Shoto grabbed the scar man's hand and was pulled into a mist gate. Izuku was glad his friend was back with his brother.
The brothers tucked their heads into their heroes shoulder as he took off. Exhaustion weighed on their bones, causing them to sag in the hero's hold. Both fell asleep before they landed at the apartment.