Work Text:
It’s hot, sticky, humid *awful*, and they have been traveling for what seems like years but has really only been a few weeks. A few weeks since they’ve seen a real bed, slept on more than just the hard ground, or if they were lucky, some hay from a nearby barn or trough.
Mina would literally give up her favorite arrow for a bath in something warmer than an icy creek. She looks over at Tokoyami and can’t help the small smile that graces her features as he looks at another tear in the fabric of his cloak like it had personally offended him and giving it a death glare will make it someone sew itself together.
“C’mere silly bird.” She giggles at him, stowing her bow as they finally arrive back at the camp for the night for a short rest. “You know, no matter how hard you stare at that, it won't mend itself right? Plus.. I think the whole torn and tattered look suits you.”
Mina beams at her best friend, her partner in the sky, and the man that she’s had feelings for for ages, but would never risk their synchrony in the sky or on land just for some butterflies that seem to never go away. Patting the seat beside her as she rests on a fallen tree, she pulls out a small satchel from one of her various pockets and produces thread and needle.
“I thought you stated it suited me.” A dark brow arches, voice a rich low timbre that sends those butterflies fluttering again and make Mina happy for the cover of fading light and her naturally pink hue.
“I-.. It does! But you didn’t seem to care for it, so if you’ll allow me, good sir” she teases, sticking her tongue out.
Tokoyami chuckles and holds out his arm, brandishing the torn fabric. “Well who am I to deny the fair maiden.”
Mina rolls her eyes and begins to pull the thread through the rough fabric of the dark cloak, the two ends lacing together to pull the fabric into one.
“You did well today.” He starts, making dark eyes drag from their task to look into crimson red. Mina’s skin warms and she laughs softly. “Wasn’t all me yanno. I can’t aim unless I have hands holding me up and pointing the right direction. But.. I agree. *We* did good today. One step closer to going home.”
She doesn’t miss the look in his eyes when she makes the statement. They’ve been paired together as Sky Snipers since training, honed into each other’s strengths and weaknesses, where she falls, he more than makes up, and she does the same for him. A well oiled machine, except with a lot more heart.
“You always get sad when I mention home.” She points out, and this time is his turn to look at her. “I have no desire to go back to the desolate wasteland where you have to scavenge for your food.” Tokoyami remarks a bit coldly. “I haven’t been back since before training.”
Stitching up the last knot and using her teeth to clip the string, Mina’s thumb runs over the line of repair. Her heart skips a beat. The night is quiet, they’ve settled after a long day, and everyone else is either off in their tents or off finding mirth in whatever form suits them best. Now. Now is the time. Come on Mina. You can face a horde of enemy Orcs, what’s just saying a few words to convey a feeling.
“I didn’t mean that home.I meant-“
Just as she was about to say a home with them, both of them, someplace to finally relax, a loud screech rings through the brush and brambles, a thud following so hard that even the fire in front of them quivers in fear.
“What was that!” She gasps, just as Tokoyami yanks her to the ground behind the log they were sitting on and covers her with his cloak, hiding her in the shroud of darkness alongside him.
Fumikage huffs and it just makes her shake her head. “Always so protective. I adore you for it, but we need to see what’s going on.” Without further warning, the woman jumps from the hiding spot only to see fire, *blue* fire, and there’s the stench of decay on the wind.
“We need to go fight!”
“We need to find the commander!”
They both say in unison, making Mina smile. “Always so safe. You find the commander, I’m going to head to the front.” Fumikage knows that Mina can handle herself; she’s fierce, competent, and quick witted, someone he truly admires and if he were to allow himself the honesty of his heart now darkened by the wages of war, he’d even say she’s someone he has grown to love. But.. there’s no time for such frivolity and nonsense, not now, not when he has to stay focused on the mission (*stay focused on making this a better world for them both*) Despite knowing all of this, he still doesn’t like the idea of splitting up, they work better together.
“You know my signal, call for me if you are in need.” He gives a curt nod and Mina rolls her eyes and waves him off, already running towards the blue glow, jumping over logs and rough terrain, light and quick on her feet as Tokoyami takes to the skies, low and under cover of cloak and night.
Dropping to the ground when he sees their commander he calls Aizawa’s name, drawing his bow at the sight of a man covered in ravaged flesh. A mage? Fire shoots from his hands, straight at their commander, a holy paladin fighting the dark with his gift of light, and yet-
Tokoyami cries out again when Aizawa is thrown to the ground and he lets an arrow loose, his aim proven true when it pierces through the palm of the magic wielder. Running forward, he jumps into the air, wings catching the current of the wind on instinct as he shoots to kill the threat. So caught up in this single fight, Fumikage makes a grave error. He didn’t survey his surroundings. Sharp, stabbing pain radiates up his leg and when he looks down it’s to see a man that looks like death incarnate, holding onto his leg, the fabric of his trousers eaten away to reveal his skin, cracking and decaying away around the man’s hand. Necromancer.
Twisting in air, he manages to kick the man in the face, dislodging him from his leg as a paladin’s holy light pierces his chest. Aizawa.
Fumikage has enough wherewithal to note his commander is fine before he tumbles to the ground, crash landing and dragging himself behind a large boulder.
“Sir. Ashido. She went towards the flames to assist in protecting the perimeter. She sent me to inform you, though it seems you are more than well versed at this point.” He tries for humor, not one of his finer attributes, and Aizawa nods. “Take cover, I will meet her at the front, watch guard and provider cover as best you can without giving away your position. You need the element of surprise and no mistakes to survive this.” Fumikage follows the orders given, tying off his leg with a torn piece of his cloak and two thoughts fill his mind as he draws another arrow.
Mina had better be safe. And she is going to be completely insufferable about him tearing his cloak again.
——
MIna crouches low, looking for any signs of the group responsible. There’s a Druid down the way trying to put out the fire that seems to burn out of spite in the face of the druid’s water magic.
A twig snaps to her left and Mina whips around, bow at the ready when she sees Shindo Yo, one finger on his lips in a ‘be quiet’ gesture, the other hand held up in a placating manner. She rolls her eyes with a sign of releif. “Idiot. I nearly shot you.”
The other sky sniper chuckles softly. “What a way to go though” he teases, sliding beside her to survey the area. Suddenly they see him,a scarred man casting fire on everything in his path and moving closer to camp, closer to the village beyond that.
This is the man they were sent out on the mission to find.
Behind him trails a smaller man, cloaked in a bright red, the fabric creating greater contrast against the pale ashen skin of the necromancier it covers .
Dabi and Tomura Shigaraki.
Both powerful men known for destroying entire cities, then raising its victims to form their own sordid army as they make their way to the capital.
Mina looks around for Tokoyami, they’ve never separated for this long and the distance and lack of the comfortable strength of the man beside her has her skin prickling and feeling too tight on her bones.
“Shindo.. I need-“ she shakes her head, she’s never let anyone but Fumikage fly for her, never trusted anyone but him.
But this was dire.
“Fly for me. We have to stop them.”
Shindo grins, a crooked cocky thing, and the ground beneath them rumbles as wings made of thin slate and pebbles and dust from the earth form on his back.
He doesn’t warn her before lifting her and shooting skyward, making the woman squawk indignantly. “We need a plan you moron”
He shrugs and points down. “No you just need to shoot.”
She tries to aim but his position is all wrong, the wind is catching all wrong, and his grip is hindering her arm movements.
The first arrow flies and for the first time since basic, Mina Ashido misses her mark.
Crystalline eyes of the mage below them hone in on her and a pyre of blue flame shoots straight their way. Mina yells at Shindo to dodge, trying to move her own body to aid in his course correction, and they are clipped by the fire, one of his wings turning to ash in an instant as they hurtle to the ground.
——
Tokoyami sees the flash of blue, his heart stuttering in his chest as he watches someone else lift Mina in the air.
Wrong.
Wrong wrong wrong.
A darkness builds in his chest and his wings burst forth made of shadow and ire and he races towards the flurry of limbs and terrified scream of the woman…
He loves her.
He feels it in his blackened soul. She is his light, his breath, his salvation. And now it is his turn to save her.
Like a fever dream, he doesn’t remember getting from point A to point B, but he manages, one hand catching Shindo by the awful contraption he calls wings and his other arm snatching up Mina around the waist, holding her body tight to his.
The pinker than usual cheeks that plumpen with the brighter than the sun smile he receives nearly knocks him off balance ( and if he happens to drop Shindo a little too far from the ground, it was a complete accident).
When his feet touch the ground, Tokoyami doesn’t let her go, dispite the pain the pressure causes to his injured leg. He can hear their commander in the distance, the others of their squad, and the blue light dissipating in retreat.
But none of that matters as he looks into dark eyes that carry his whole world.
“Never again. Never again do you fly with anyone else. You are mine and mine alone, just as the moon belongs to the night sky.”
Soft lips press against his and his whole world fades to sunset hues of cherry blossom and warmth.
Mina smiles, arms wrapping around him just as earnestly, shifting more of his weight onto her and off of his leg.
“Ill be your support, your legs, your heart. As long as youll always be my wings.”
And the sky sniper borne of darkness finds his light.