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Dabi is right to be angry. Hawks is angry too. Or, he isn’t, but that’s only because it’s been so long that he is effectively numb to anger. He wanted to be angry at the Commission when they said he had to infiltrate the League, he wanted to be angry when they told him he was to kill Twice, the only person he’s ever felt was a real friend to him. But he doesn’t feel anger anymore. He just can’t.
He did decide he would try to convince Twice to surrender before finishing the job, but Dabi has very thoroughly gotten in the way of that. Twice wasn’t going to go willingly, but if Dabi hadn’t stepped in then he would’ve eventually been subdued. But now there is a knife in Twice’s back and Hawks’ feathers are all burnt up. He can’t breathe from the smoke and there’s a boot on his back.
If this is where he dies, perhaps that’s ok. He doesn’t want to die, especially not to Dabi’s hands, but if this is it then he can accept it. Not much he can do about it otherwise, anyway.
“I always knew, you know?” Dabi says, leaning over to peer into Hawks’ eyes. “I always knew you were a fuckin’ rat. You heroes are all the same.” It’s the same spiel Hawks has heard from before. “I can’t believe you murdered him!”
“You sound upset,” Hawks grits out as Dabi’s Quirk burns up what little remains of his wings.
“I’m more than just a little upset,” Dabi argues. “I’m consumed by my sorrow!” The flames swell, eating at the skin of Hawks’ back. He still does not believe Dabi, though. The man does not look the least bit sorrowful. Frustrated, maybe, but not sad. “You hypocrite.”
Hawks does not choose to engage him again. He really is sorry about Twice, but not to Dabi. Not to the League at all, really. He’s only sorry to Twice. He’s sorry that he had to kill him, he’s sorry that Twice couldn’t listen to him, he’s sorry he’s never been anything more than a mindless tool for the corrupt Commission. He is so fucking sorry things couldn’t have turned out better, but he cannot regret his choices.
“You think that you’re saving people, that you’re just so much better than me, huh?” Dabi spits. “But you’re just as bad. You’ve killed more than just Twice. You kill all the time. You’re just like me, killing when it suits you.” He leans down close to Hawks’ ear. “The difference between us is that I don’t take orders like some fucking dog. I make my own choices and I don’t pretend they belong to someone else. I don’t pretend to be a hero. You didn’t save anyone tonight, you just took someone’s life. And now you’re going to lose yours. You’re an absolute disgrace.”
The lack of Oxygen is getting to him, and everything is becoming hazy, but he’s still able to see Tokoyami swoop in and knock Dabi away. Dark Shadow hovers over Hawks, inspecting him closely, obviously searching for injuries.
“Dark Shadow?” Tokoyami asks, not looking away from Dabi.
“It’s bad, Fumikage,” Dark Shadow says, whimpering, though it sounds distorted coming from him. “His back… his wings… they’re gone!” The Quirk trails off.
“Hawks killed my buddy, Twice,” Dabi says. “Stabbed in the back with one of those big feathers. What are you here for? Rescuing him? These Pros play dirtier than me. Better you learn that now.” Tokoyami doesn’t say anything, but Hawks can tell he’s off-put.
“You’re a villain,” he finally says. “I’m only worried about my mentor.”
“You’re brainwashed.” Dabi throws fire at the pair of them, forcing Dark Shadow to shrink. But Dabi can’t keep going forever, so in the middle of his grand speech Hawks tells Tokoyami to get them out of there. When they hit the floor of the balcony a floor below, Hawks cannot keep the impact from dunking him into unconsciousness, try as he might.
Hawks had not ever thought that he would be the one to defeat All For One. He hadn’t even thought that their entire team would be able to do it. He had, however, thought they would do a little more damage than they have. Forcing All For One to activate the Rewind Quirk was their goal, but keeping their lives had also been an important part of their plan.
As far as he knows they are all alive, so far, but himself and Tokoyami are terribly injured. He’s clinging to awareness with everything he has, but the pounding in his head is making it difficult. He had hit the ground rather hard, and tried his best to use himself to cushion Tokoyami’s fall.
Now Hawks stands, unsteadily, before All For One, a synthetic feather raised as his only defense. It trembles in his grip from exhaustion and pain, and probably will not do much to protect him or anyone else, but there are students here and he will not lay down and let them be trampled.
“Such a marvelous Quirk,” says All For One, looking past Hawks to Tokoyami. “It’s wasted on someone like you.”
Hawks will not allow All For One to take Dark Shadow from Tokoyami. All For One wraps one hand, smooth with youth and warm with regeneration, around Hawks’ throat and lifts him up. Weakly, Hawks sinks his last sword into the other’s shoulder, drawing not even a flinch.
“You made a decent showing of it, Hawks,” All For One says. Hawks feels the warmth against his neck grow uncomfortably, and he feels the small scraps of his wings begin to melt away. It’s fascinating, the loss of a Quirk. The way it feels inside you as a space is hollowed out. “Fierce Wings… What a disgusting excuse for a Quirk.” Hawks loves them. He loves his wings. He would do anything to keep them, but he has nothing. “It’s to your credit you got as far as you did with them.” Like butter, he slides the sword from his skin and drops Hawks on the ground.
“You don’t want Dark Shadow,” the kid with the purple ball Quirk rasps from a few feet away. “It’s lame and cringey anyway. You want my Pop Off. It’s way better.” It’s admirable how willing this boy is to give up his own Quirk for Tokoyami. Hawks feels even worse for leaving these children with this monster, but he’s bleeding heavily, and while he is trying to pull himself up, it’s not going well. “Just don’t take Dark Shadow from Tokoyami!”
Someone like this cannot be reasoned with. He will never listen to the pleas of a child and a hero he does not respect. So it is pure luck that he finds something in the air which distracts him. He’s gone a moment later, and their little corner of the battlefield is doused in silence.
Hawks can’t do much, he’s really just spent, but he gets his elbows beneath him and is able to drag himself forward. It’s slow going and he trembles from the effort but after several painful minutes he makes it to where Tokoyami is lying completely limp. He looks dead, and Hawks can’t focus his eyes right to see if his chest is rising, so he grabs him ‘round the ankle to feel his pulse there. It thumps steadily, strong, and relief nearly sends Hawks finally over the edge.
But it doesn’t. He keeps his eyes open, because it’s better than nothing. If anything comes for him, perhaps he will not be completely useless.
The battlefield is, to him, proof of the contrary, though. He couldn’t save anyone here. What a waste, he is. He was hardly even helpful.
They did what they could, and what they were supposed to, though, which is all he could really hope for. He won’t be a hero anymore, when this is over. He’d thought of the possibility, but only in the context of death. He isn’t sure which is worse.