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“He did it again.”
“He was late. Again.”
“He lacked finesse and elegance, of course the Artcen King refused to sign the accord. Who, in their right mind, would want to marry their daughter to such an undignified excuse of a prince?”
“He showed up covered in mud. Mud!” The maid screamed. “Mud in the throne room!”
“This can’t go on, anymore, Sire!”
“We’re well aware, Your Majesty. There is just no hope for this child. You must find a way to break him and put him back in line.”
“I have an idea. It may be a tad controversial, but please, hear me out.”
He should have known the second they told him he was free to roam the city street as he wished. Of course, they hadn’t phrased it this way. Of course, they had made it sound long-suffering and resigned. But that speech had been too good to be true. Of course, he was being followed and tracked by the royal guard. They all knew he hated that. There was no risk in the city. No thieves, no murderers, no one of that kind. There was almost no crime in this city. The very few were committed by desperate people as a cry for help which, once heard and listened to, would leave place to guilt, sincere apologies and a change for the better for those poor souls.
Yet, there he stood, in front of a stall, using the traditional metal craftsmanship laid in front of him to catch the reflection of the soldiers badly hidden. He knew his father and his counsellors thought him to be an utter fool and dull brained, but this? This was an insult. The guard was a mere few feet away, standing behind a pillar that was barely half the size of one of them. Of course, he could see them. Such an insult. He would teach them a lesson.
And so, the boy took off. He ran until his lungs felt like fire in his chest, until his legs begged for mercy, until his mouth tasted like copper. Then, and only then, did he slow down enough to release the ache in his legs and chest. He dared a look back, and to no one’s surprise, he had lost the guard. Just like every time he tried to since he turned nine years old. They’re not really fast, a bit thick, weighed down by armour, and honestly tired after years of chasing down the prince in every part of the city.
The feeling of the chase is intoxicating to the boy. The fight or flight instinct triggered, allowing all this adrenaline to flow freely in his system, making him feel like he had wings and could fly away. The rush leaving and letting a kind of quiet happiness settle over him, for his body thought he’d won over the danger. Maybe it’s because of this feeling, or maybe it’s because there’s no crime in the city, no one will ever know. Still, it didn’t change the fact that when he felt a hand cover his mouth and press a wet cloth against his nose, the boy did not react. He did not struggle. He did not try to escape. He didn’t even try to look back.
Maybe the boy was indeed a fool. Or maybe the boy possessed an old soul and had been right all along, there was no crime in the city.
(The truth had been revealed.)
“Wait, so you’re not part of the royal guard?” The pirate snorted, looking down at the boy on his knees. “I thought you were!”
(The boy was just a fool.)
The boy was also loose-lipped and very friendly, as his captors soon discovered.
Indeed, tied up at the wrists and feet and thrown in a cage as he were, he was still trying to get the names of each and every man of the crew. Just so he could address anyone he so desired whenever he wanted to have a little chat.
“Come on! Tell me! What’s your name?” The boy insisted. “You’re the only one I don’t know!”
The man standing on the other side of the cage rolled his eyes, uttering no word at all.
“Look, I'll start. I’m Keigo!”
Keigo, for all his efforts, only received another roll of eyes. The man desperately wanted to grab and shake him, and scream at him that he knew, dear Heavens, he knew. How could he not know when the boy was the only thing on each and every of his crewmates’ lips. Keigo this. Keigo that. Fuck, he knew.
“Please?” Keigo begged. “If not your name, then can I have something? Anything?”
Just as the commission had mentioned, the boy couldn’t stand stillness and silence. The man considered his options for a second. Either keep up the silent treatment and hope Keigo would finally take the hint and shut up, which, to be fair, didn’t seem very likely. Or give him his name, which didn't seem likely either.
“Dabi.”
“Sorry?” Keigo looked up from the floor, startled out of his skull.
“You may call me Dabi.”
Three weeks had come and gone since Keigo had been dragged away from his life. At first, he had thought he was about to be executed, then that he was about to be used as a ransom. When nothing came after a week at sea, he started to think that maybe they thought it’d be hilarious to keep him in a cage, a royal becomes a jester in a cell. He had tried his hardest to play it off, like if he was friendly and charming enough, one of the pirates would get a soft spot for him and let him escape.
Now, though? Keigo had no idea. He received two meals per day, water whenever he asked for it, his cell was clean, one of the crew was always down there with him. Not to watch him but more to keep him company, he’d come to realise.
Twice was his favourite of the crew. He always talked to him like an old friend would. Even if sometimes, he lost his temper over apparently nothing before going back to normal, as if nothing had happened at all. From the looks Twice gave him, there was a whole story there. A story Keigo wasn’t to know yet.
Keigo startled out of his somnolence when he heard the rusty lock of his cell give way, screeching as it was forced open.
“Get out.” Dabi said, dry as ever.
“Why?”
Dabi rolled his eyes as he stepped inside and immediately found himself in Keigo’s personal space, towering over him with a glare that could probably kill.
“You’ve been talking my ears off for weeks, going on and on and on about when you’d be able to leave, and now you want to ask questions?”
“Well, if you plan to execute me, I’d be right to question things, you see?”
“Your execution is not part of our plan.” Dabi sneered. “Yet.” He stepped back out of the cell. “It might be if you don’t get out when I tell you to, though.”
“Okay, you’re rude.”
Dabi let out a chuckle that sounded more like a groan. “Please. Just get out of here.”
Keigo squinted his eyes, pondering for a few seconds. When he came to the conclusion that he really had no choice, he stepped out and stopped in front of Dabi awkwardly. He had received no instruction beyond getting out. What was he supposed to do now? Dabi rolled his eyes again. Keigo was reminded of all the times he had done the same back in the palace, and all those times a maid or servant had told him his eyes would be stuck if he did it too much. He entertained the thought of telling this to Dabi for a second. Just a second. Then, he chose life.
“Move.” Dabi snapped.
“Where?”
“Fuck, now I know why they wanted to get rid of you that bad.” Keigo frowned, confused. “Okay then, you see Shigaraki wanted to do this nicely, getting you out of here, letting you eat a warm meal with all of us and only then, he would tell you what’s going on. But you want to be difficult, right? You want to know everything, uh?” He stepped forward until Keigo was crowded against the pillar next to the stairs that led up to the deck. “So I’ll tell you. A month ago, we received a commission. You can imagine our surprise when we realised your King and father wanted us to come and kidnap his son, roughen him up for a few weeks, until dear son managed to escape due to a mistake on our part. The price was nice, so we agreed. And we got you.” Dabi bit his lower lip a few times before continuing. “But then, you didn’t even try to escape.”
“That’s not true.” Keigo cut him.
“Tsk, shut up.” Dabi pushed his hand on Keigo’s mouth and left it there. “Don’t lie to me. I’m the one who put you in that cell and never locked the door. So don’t lie.” Keigo’s eyes went wide. “See? You’d have known that, had you tried even once to escape. But you didn’t. Why ?” He asked as he removed his hand to let Keigo answer.
Keigo shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Dabi huffed and grabbed the other man by the shoulder before pushing him up the stairs to join the others.
Keigo was leaning against the deck. He still couldn’t believe them. Well, he could, but it hurt too much so he’d rather pretend he didn’t. Because if he did, then he’d have to admit his father sold him to pirates for a few weeks, gave them the right to do anything with him, just so Keigo would come to his senses and realise the luch he had to be a royal. This had been meant to be an incentive to come back and play his part, and marry and be a good and proper perfect little heir. Tough shit, though. His father had picked the pirate’s crew with the most frightful reputation to this day. Shame they actually only picked on people they thought deserved it. Shame they thought Keigo was innocent in this story and didn’t deserve any of the bad treatment they had been paid for.
Keigo had had a long talk with the whole crew a few nights back, after Dabi had let him out of his cell. They’d told him a lot about themselves, how they got together, why they did what they did. As the night had passed, most of the crew had gone to bed until Keigo had been left alone with Shigaraki, the captain of the ship and crew. The latter had stared at him for a long while, calculating, probably wondering if Keigo was worth anything or if he should just kill him. They had stared at each other for many long minutes until Shigaraki had just smiled very creepily at him.
“Do you want us to drop you off at the closest port so you can make your way home?” He had asked.
And Keigo had immediately shook his head no. It’s like a fire had been lit when the possibility of being left behind had been brought up. He had wanted to scream, no, of course not, I am home . That was the weirdest part of the night. How could he think he was home? He obviously was not. Still, the fire had been lit and it was burning him from the inside out.
“I want to stay here.”
Shigaraki had merely smirked and said, “that’s what I thought”, before leaving him there, alone with his thoughts.
So there Keigo stood, days later, still obsessed with this conversation, this feeling, this.. Fire.
Time passed. The people of the royal city moved on. The king was still searching for his son who he thought was lost at sea. He refused to mourn him because in doing so, he would admit to having no heir and thus, there would be no one next in line and this was the kind of instability he couldn’t afford in his lands.
Three seas across his homeland, Keigo was still on the very same ship that had taken him away in the first place. He had earned his place. He’d given the crew his everything, his sweat, blood and tears. He’d learned how to navigate using stars, how to tie a proper knot, how to filter water, how to rig ropes and chains. He’d learned it all through patient explanations and doing it over and over and over again. He’d stood all night long in the crow’s nest, trying his hardest to see through the thick darkness that was over the sea during the night. He had watched over sick crewmates, he had helped cook meals and learned how to bandage a wound.
He had been on this ship with this pirates’ crew for three months. He still had so much more to learn. He still felt perfectly at home. And he was. The crew had told him. Not in so many words, not with explanations full of feelings and hugs. They had given him a name. Keigo had noticed, of course, how everyone had a specific nickname and how no one really used their given names. Shigaraki had told him it was a protection for them. Then he told him he should have his own name. He could pick it himself or ask the others for ideas. Of course, the others didn’t need to be asked, they came on their own with their propositions
It was Dabi who’d proposed the one Keigo had picked in the end. Dabi had come after him one night, when Keigo was about to go up the crow’s nest. It was his favourite spot. He always did a good job there, he had a vision like a hawk, Dabi had said. That had stuck something in Keigo. Right then and there, he’d decided what his name was. Hawks.
There was something strange with Dabi. He was always near Keigo. Always volunteering to teach him more. Always sitting next to him during meal times. And lately, more often than not, he would come up the crow’s nest and stay with him through the night. Of course, he fell asleep quickly. But still, he was there. And Keigo, who’d been annoyed whenever someone followed him back in the Palace, found himself appreciative whenever he turned his head and found Dabi there.
That night was no exception. Keigo had been up the nest for half an hour when he heard ropes creaking and saw them moving with the added weight of a body. He didn’t even bother to check who it was. He already knew.
Once Dabi was leaning against the railing next to him, Keigo started talking.
“You know the stories about sirens?”
“The ones warning sailors to not follow the beautiful singing in case they get lost forever?” Dabi replied after a few seconds.
“Uh uh,” Keigo nodded as he dropped his feet over the edge of the railing he was sitting on.
“What about them?” Dabi asked as reached for Keigo’s shirt and twisted his hand in the fabric. He did that a lot. Like Keigo would suddenly act like a real hawk and try to fly away only to fall to his death.
“I grew up with another version.” Keigo shrugged. “My mother told me those were old tales, misunderstood and so out of touch with the reality of sirens that the warnings were useless.”
“What are sirens then?”
“The longing for home. And the unavoidable destruction of home.”
“That’s sad.”
“The stories you hear now about sirens being creatures in the sea leading sailors to die are wrong. Sirens are all about loving someone else so hard that you curse them and lead them to their death. Sirens are not at fault, they can’t help it. They merely bring the others to meet their deaths.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“I know, it’s hard to understand when you haven’t lived it.”
“Well, how do you understand then?”
“My mom was a siren. She met my father at sea and felt this sense of longing, of home, of love. So she left the sea and made herself a place in the royalty in an attempt to save my father’s life. He died a few years later, slipped on the wet deck and hit his head, never woke up. The king is not my birth father, you know.”
“I didn’t,” Dabi replied even though the question was obviously rhetorical.
“She met my father and tried so hard to save him, but it was too late. The second they met, he was a dead-man walking.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“When I met you, I felt something I never had before and I couldn't explain it to myself. No words seemed to carry the depth of what I felt. Now I know. You feel like home. You’re the most precious thing in the world to me. It’s like there’s a fire I have to protect from a raging storm and all I have to protect it are my hands. I feel like I’m playing with your life, that I could end it with a word or a move. I hate it. I don’t want you to die.” Keigo said as tears finally slipped past his eyes. “Yet, I’ve condemned you to death the moment you grabbed me in the city.”
“I’m honoured,” Dabi said simply as he wiped Keigo’s tears away.