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Keigo stared at the door separating him and the man on the other side. His handler had forbidden him to step close to the league since their capture three weeks ago but he couldn’t stay away any longer. He had to know if they were hurt. So here he was, frozen in place and unable to reach out for the handle. They hated him, they must. How could they ever forgive him for betraying them like that?
Slowly he reached out and unlocked the door before slinking inside. The room was dark, just a small lamp lighting up the room and no windows. There would be no way for the habitat to know what time of the day it was, and that’s probably how the commission wanted it. Said habitat of the room slowly looked up when he heard the door. Surprise showed in his eyes for a second before they turned back to dull. Keigo hated it. Dabi was a lot skinnier than the last time he saw him, bruises coloring healthy skin.
"Why are you here?" His voice was raw, the commission clearly hadn't given him enough water either.
"I... I had to see you." Keigo's voice broke and he swallowed.
"Is this some kind of fucked up way of getting me to speak? Because it won't work." Stupid, stupid fire user, always putting others before him. Keigo had heard how they hadn't gotten anything out of any of the villains under the three weeks they've had them. They would always sacrifice themselves before betraying each other. And yet Keigo had betrayed them all.
"They don't know I'm here. They forbid me to see you and the rest." Keigo walked closer to the other and that's when he saw the chains keeping the others to the wall. The mutant sank down on his knees in front of the other and reached for the other's wrists. Quirk canceling cuffs, no surprise there. Dabi flinched as Keigo touched him and Keigo could feel his heart break more and more.
"You really won't hurt me?" It was said in a whisper but Keigo heard it. It made tears well up and he quickly blinked them away.
"I'm sorry Tou, I'm so so sorry." Seeing the older like this made it easy for Keigo to choose. With one last sorry he turned and fled the room.
~
It took him five days of planning. On the sixth day he arrived at the commissions building on a day he knew most people were busy with training, meetings or other stuff that would keep them out of the way. He walked through the corridors like he belonged there and it must have worked for no one stopped him.
Keigo had never been this nervous before, not even the first time he had to meet Dabi, or the first time he arrived at the commission, many many years ago. He knew he needed to do this quickly, before someone noticed, or this would never work. The hero only had one chance, if he didn't succeed it would be the end of it.
The people he met were fewer the further into the building he came, but the ones he met were getting stronger and more armed. No one thought about asking him what he was doing there. They didn't even bat an eye at the bag he held over his shoulder.
There it was, the door he was looking for. It was critical that he started here, but it would also be the hardest part. Slowly and quietly he used the card he had stolen and unlocked the door. He looked around and when he didn't see anyone he stepped inside, quietly closing the door after him.
Shigaraki sat on the floor, staring at a miscolor in the wall. He'd clearly been starved too, and beaten, with the bruises to show. Keigo took a stuttering breath as he hurried over to him. He didn't have any time to spare.
"Tenko." Said man flinched and turned towards the man, surprise coloring his features.
"Kei, why are you here?" His voice was just as raw as Dabi's had been. Luckily the number two hero had thought about it as he dumped the bag he carried on the floor beside them. Shigaraki looked suspicious at it as Keigo opened it, but his eyes melted into something soft as he saw the food and the water bottles. Keigo picked up a bottle, making a show of breaking the bottle open to show that it had not been tampered with before moving it to the other mouth. Shigaraki released a relieved breath before he quickly began drinking. He made a sound of displeasure when the hero quickly pulled it away.
"You can't drink too quickly." He placed it on the ground before moving to work on the first cuff keeping the other to the wall. As soon as the first lock opened and his wrist was free he reached for the bottle and drank the rest while Keigo worked on the other one.
The lock clicked open and Keigo took a step back. If the other wanted to hurt the hero nothing could stop him now. Shigaraki reached out for him and Keigo closed his eyes. He wouldn't move, he deserved it after betraying them like he did.
The pain never came. Instead he felt four fingers grab the hem of his jacket and pull. It was the shock more than the strength that made Keigo fall to his knees in front of the other.
"I knew you would come back for us." Lips touched his and Keigo let out a chirp of surprise. Only two people could pull those kinds of sounds out of him.
They kissed for a second before Keigo pulled back. They didn't have time for this. Instead he handed the other an apple and another water bottle.
"We need to hurry." He helped Shigaraki up, ignoring the worry he felt when he saw how much the other shook. Had he not been able to stand up since they caught him? They moved over to the door and Hawks used his card to open it, not wanting to set off any alarms. "Come on, let's go find Touya."
Said man clearly had not expected to see Keigo again after he ran out on him, and he clearly had not expected Shigaraki following him, eating an apple. Before Keigo could reach the fire user Shigaraki was by his side, using his quirk to get rid of the cuffs and then they were hugging. Keigo watched them for a moment before he got pulled into the hug by Shigaraki.
"Fuck, I thought I would never be able to do this again." Dabi's voice trembled as he gripped them hard, scared they would disappear if he let go.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." Keigo sounded just as close to tears. Relief of having them close again, anger for seeing them hurt, self-hatred for putting them in this situation.
"Kei, apologies later, we need to find the others." Shigaraki were right. Keigo fished up a water bottle and a banana out of the bag while Shigaraki helped Dabi up. The oldest gratefully took the things from Keigo as he tried to wake up his sleeping limbs. Keigo could see infected scarring that started to bleed when he moved and he couldn't help to feel even worse. This was his fault.
"Can you walk?"
"I've been through much worse. Let's go." They left the room and quickly found the next room.
Toga screamed in fear and anger as the door opened and for some reason that filled the hero with relief - they hadn't been able to break her.
"Hey crazy, it's us." The teenager finally seemed to recognize them as Dabi spoke. She just stared at them for a moment and then her eyes filled with tears.
"H-Help me." The whisper was filled with so much pain and fear, like she finally allowed herself to feel the emotions. Shigaraki moved over to her side to help with the cuffs. Why were they all chained to the wall like some animals? What had the commission done to them?
As soon as she was free Dabi was there and she threw herself at him, burying her face in his chest, sobbing hard.
"Shh, you're free now. You're safe. I won't let them hurt you anymore." If only the world saw this side of the league. The side where they cared for each other. The side where they were just people, cast aside by society and just trying to survive.
Keigo gave Toga her own bottle and another one to Dabi and they left. They didn't have much time to find the rest before someone realized they had escaped.
Compress had been asleep when they found him and for a moment Keigo thought the man was dead. But he had stirred when Toga shook him.
"This is a nice dream." Toga had laughed and told him that it wasn't a dream, that they were getting out of here. It was the first time Keigo saw the magician without his mask, and that made him want to urgently find Twice.
Said man was worse to wear. Compared to the others he wasn't chained up, but it wasn't for the better. He sat in a corner, turned towards a wall and talked to himself. He was covered in bruises and cuts and something told Keigo that it hadn't been the commission that had done this to him.
"Oh Jin" Toga rushed over to him and pulled him into a hug as Compress ripped a big part of his shirt off that he could use to wrap around the others head. At least he was wearing quirk canceling cuffs, which probably is the only thing that saved him from himself.
"Jin, answer me, please." Toga shook the former slightly without any reaction from the duplicate villain.
"We need to carry him." Before Keigo could answer Dabi Compress stepped up.
"I'll do it. You three need to fight." And he was the least beaten up of them. Keigo nodded and helped Shigaraki with getting Twice on his back.
"Tell me if I need to take him."
Spinner was locked up in the room beside Twice and the first thing he did when they let him free was going to check on him.
"I've heard him screaming. He stopped a week ago. I thought…" his voice broke and shook his head and turned quiet.
"Come on, we need to-" Keigo got interrupted by blasting sirens and he cursed. Their time was up. They quickly left the room and ran down the corridor and then the next. They stopped by another door and Shigaraki turned it to dust.
"Big sister Magne!" Toga rushed over to the woman who looked relieved. Shigaraki decayed the cuffs and she quickly pulled the younger girl into a hug. Toga helped her up and Dabi gave her some water and then they left again. Keigo led them through the building and to another door, guarded by five agents. They didn't even have time to react before the hero knocked them out with his feathers. Shigaraki broke the door and they all stepped inside.
"Kurogiri" the relief in Shigaraki’s voice from seeing his former caretaker went right through Keigo's heart. They had moved the man here a week ago to see if they could use him to get Shigaraki to speak but never got that far.
The misty man looked up when they entered and he slumped in his chair. Hawks quickly got him free from his restraints and Shigaraki helped him up from the chair he had been chained to.
"Is anyone hurt?"
"We will all survive." Their reunion got cut short by running steps echoing from the corridor above them.
"Kurogiri, can you get them out?" Said man nodded at Keigo and stepped up to the wall. It took him a few tries to get the hang of it after not using his quirk for months but then a portal opened. Compress hurried through with Twice and with Spinner following close behind, Magne and Toga next. Shigaraki and Dabi moved towards the portal but then they stopped when they realized Keigo wasn't following.
"Birdie, let's go."
"Kei what are you doing? We don't have time for this." Keigo shook his head and took a step back. He couldn't understand why they wanted him to come with them. He betrayed them.
"I'll hold them back. I'll make sure they can't track you all, to keep them busy." Shigaraki frowned at his words.
"Kei, they will kill you for this. And it won't be an easy death. They built you, they know how to break you."
"And I betrayed you for them. Why would you want me to come with you? Please, just go!" Pain and panic filled his voice as he heard people come closer. They would be captured if they didn't leave now.
"And you just saved us, Birdbrain. We're not going to leave you here." Dabi looked almost as pained as Keigo felt as he reached for him. Keigo took a step back and shook his head. He couldn't go with them.
"Tamaki Keigo, if you don't step through the portal right this instant I'll decay Touya in front of you." It was such a dirty trick. Shigaraki knew Keigo wouldn't listen if he had threatened him, but by threatening Dabi he had no choice. The young leader was panicking, and they all knew Dabi would want that more than being captured again. So Keigo had no choice but to step through the portal, the other three following. The last thing he saw was his handler rushing into the room and then he stared at a wall instead.
"We're free." Keigo turned at Magne's voice, watching as said woman sank down on a chair in what Keigo now recognized as one of the villains' hideouts on the other side of Japan. Suddenly Toga burst into relieved tears and Keigo almost joined her. They had made it.
Spinner left to find a mask for Twice as Compress sat him down on the couch. Jin had slowly started to come back to them, but it was clear it would take a lot of work for him to be himself again, if he ever would be. But he was strong, Keigo believed in him.
Kurogiri took a beeline to the hideout's kitchen to cook up some ramen for everyone. They all needed food that was easy to digest after being only given the absolutely necessary for weeks.
Keigo watched them all move around, feeling out of place, when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked to the side and met Dabi's eyes. The older mentioned for him to follow and without a word the two left with Shigaraki behind them.
They walked to a bathroom and Dabi quickly got rid of the ugly shirt the commission had dressed him in before he began looking through the cabinet for things to help him with his staples and infected wounds. He found some rubbing alcohol and a clean towel which would have to do until they found something better. He sat down on the toilet seat and Shigaraki moved over to him to help him clean up.
"I-" Keigo didn't know what to say or do. His wings fluttered slightly and he felt like crying. Why weren't they screaming at him? Why did they want him to come along? Did they want to torture him themselves? It's not like he didn't deserve it after all. He got pulled from his thoughts by a scoff from Shigaraki.
"Kei, I can hear you thinking. Come help me patch Touya up instead." He tossed some bandages towards him and only his reflexes saved them from dropping on the floor. Dabi stood up and stepped out of his pants and the hero couldn't help but wince at how skinny he's gotten. There wasn't a bone that wasn't visible nor a scar that wasn't infected. This wasn't only for not cleaning them for a while, the commission had done something to make sure that they got bad.
Shigaraki cleaned and Keigo bandaged. They worked in silence for a while, the only sounds were Keigo's wings and Dabi's quiet curses when they pressed too hard on a spot. After bandaging the worst parts they both turned to Shigaraki.
"I'll just take a shower later, I don't have anything infected." Yeah, a shower would have been pretty nice right now. He wondered he Shigaraki would let him- no, stupid brain, stop it.
"Birdbrain, stop thinking. We don't blame you for this." Keigo looked up at Dabi - Touya - in surprise as the other kept going
"We knew they would catch us one day, and we knew you wouldn't have been able to save us there and then."
"We weren't so sure if you would come back for us, but you did. You saved us Keigo. You saved our family." Shigaraki - Tenko - reached out and linked his pinkie Keigo's. Keigo couldn't help staring down at their hands in shock. What's happening right now? "Keigo, please don't go back there. Stay with us. Help us take down the hero commission."
"But I betrayed you." His voice was small as he kept staring at their hands. Touya reached over and took his other hand in his.
"You did what you had to do to survive."
"But… they need me."
"Birdie, there's nothing left for you back there. You can help people without working for them, you already know that, we've shown it countless times." The fire user was right. He's helped in so many different ways since he met the league, and he did such a better job when he could think for himself and not having the commission do it for him. And what did wait for him back there? Torture? Death? Forced to beg for forgiveness and go back to being used as the commission's dog?
Or… he could stay here, with the family he found. He could help people in the way he really wanted to, no rules, no orders, no fear of stepping out of line. He could stay for the weekly game nights where Twice always ended up fighting with himself. He could stay for the cooking, where he could eat the raw meat his quirk always carved. He could stay for the movie nights where they were cuddling in the living room, discussing the movie they were watching. And he could stay here, with the two men he would die for, whom he gave his heart to a long time ago, and never want to take back.
In the end, there wasn't really a choice to be made, for he already knew the answer.