"(Y/N), as much as I appreciate your concern, you need to remove yourself."

I stead of doing as I was asked, my arms and legs tightened around the number one, my face squishing into his chest.
"You better stay safe, dammit! Kick that doctor guy's ass, and then burn him to ashes! Extra crispy!" I was stalling, I knew that, but my nerves had reached an all time high. I had already lost my own child to this war, along with Best Jeanist. I couldn't lose anyone else.

"You don't need to worry about me. Keep yourself safe, and that bird brain of yours..." Sighing, Endeavor forcibly pried me from his body setting me down on the ground and patting my head. "Good luck to you. We're going to be victorious." Watching him leave, flanked by Eraserhead and Mirko, I almost choked up. Since when had I been such a crybaby?

"Come on, Sunshine...It's time to go." Hawks took my hand and pulled me close, licking the pad of his thumb and using the moisture to wipe away a smear upon my cheek. "In and out." Nodding, I sucked in a deep breath and followed his lead. That was basically our entire plan. He would do what he needed to do, and I'd be there for backup. Dabi would have to wait.

Everything hurts already...

The dark side to my quirk made me feel colder as we started our aerial journey towards the mansion, rising above the thick fog that cloaked the forest below once we left the city. Down there, hundreds of heroes and students alike were waiting, watching, preparing to fight. To the death, if the situation called for it.

There was so much at stake. The world as we knew it. One slip up, one thing missed, and everything was as good as done for.
"Bubaigawara." I could hardly hear Hawks over the whistling wind smashing against my ears, and I swooped closer, moving beneath him in hopes of getting a clearer listen.
"Come again?!"

"Bubaigawara. Twice. He needs to be neutralized at any cost." Hawks almost sounded robotic, like he was relaying a prerecorded message instead of speaking for himself. It sent a wild shiver down my spine.
"Keigo..." The one person he had truly bonded with. I had already known that Twice was a threat, but I hadn't been made aware of the fact that he was the prime target.

"In and out. You cover me, that's it, and only when I ask for it. Apart from that, just defend. Keep yourself safe." His words carried ominously on the wind, and in that moment every single fibre of my body screamed at me to grab him by the arm and drag him back home.

No...We've got this...In and out...

During the hour of flight, I started thinking about everything behind us. My little brother, who hadn't the slightest clue of what was going on. Natsuo, who would have been blissfully unaware, still not ready to wake up for classes. Endeavor, who was on his way to fight his own half of the battle. Akitsugu, whose ashes sat upon the centre of our mantle. Every one, and thing, we were trying to protect.

When the mansion came into view, my breath seemed to get caught in my throat, and I was almost sent into a coughing fit when Hawks caught me by the scruff, yanking me back and holding me against his hip as he hung from the side of a tree.

"We wait for the others to strike first, then we sneak in. It's safest." He murmured, staring hard at the grounds ahead. He was shaking, and not from holding our combined weights. It was a shiver, almost a constant, heavy vibration, and it rippled straight through him and into me.

"Keigo, look at me." I had to repeat myself more than once to get through to him, but once he turned to acknowledge me, I pressed a deep, passionate kiss to his parted lips, refusing to release it until long after he began to reciprocate. "I love you. This is just another challenge. In and out. Together."

My smile was painfully forced, but he needed it. We both did. He smiled back, a ghost of a curve that barely showed his usual dimples, and tugged me closer. I didn't dare tell him the gesture was worsening the pain in my back.
"Together, Sunshine. Nothing we can't beat together." He whispered, returning his gaze towards the mansion.

This time, I followed, and I wasn't sure how long we spent just staring in morbid silence, our skin blemished with goosebumps from both fear and cold. It felt like we were in the eye of a hurricane, and it was only a matter of time before the wild winds blew in a storm of chaos.

A scream sounded our alarm, followed by fearsome bangs and crashes, a hole appearing, seemingly from nowhere, in the side of the ginormous structure.
"I love you, (Y/N)." My name, such a rarity on his lips, pulled me from my paralysis, and Hawks pressed one final kiss to my knuckles, lifting off, but keeping hold of me until I returned to the awful world of consciousness completely.

"I love you t..too, Keigo." I spoke as clearly as I could, words rattling as we swooped into the fray without any more thought. There were already people everywhere, fighting and screaming, too distracted with preserving their own lives to notice us entering through the gaping hole in the mansion's east wing.

I can already smell blood...

"Wh..where is he?! Are we supposed to hunt him down?!" My question almost drowned beneath the swirl of shouting and crashing, but my husband seemed to hear me loud and clear.
"I texted him before we left! He's meeting me in the center study, fifth floor! He hasn't got a way out!"

That was when I noticed he was several prominent feathers short. He really was the fastest, and always thought ahead. That was why he was the number two hero. Keeping an eye out for any known threats, I followed him in a whirlwind, up and around, weaving between villains and heroes alike.

Finally, we reached our destination, and Hawks halted, unsheathing his two sword-like feathers and glaring daggers at the door before us.
"You stay behind me. Keep an eye out for company." All I could do was slowly nod as I watched the remainder of his feathers break away from his back, streaking into the room ahead of him.

"What the heck's going on here?!" Twice's startled yelp made me flinch, but I tried to tune it out. Turning my back on my husband and his job, I faced the stairwell, proceeding to do my time as lookout. I could feel my own pulse over the rattles and quakes, and my mouth grew drier by the second.

In and out...This will be quick...Nothing to worry about...We're professionals. He's a professional...

I wanted to curl in on myself as I heard the pitched 'shnk shnk'-ing sound, akin to knives being sharpened on a belt. I knew what it was, and it made me feel like I was going to throw up again.
"Please don't resist. I'm going to capture you and hand you over to the authorities. That's how this works."

Hawks, on the outside, was so monstrously calm, but I knew him. He was being eaten up inside by this. Even if it was all for a mission, Twice was a friend. This had to have hurt.
"How sad is it if nobody trusts you?!" My jaw clenched tight as I heard the poor man yell out, his voice breaking in fear and upset. Things should have been different for him.

"...you can make a fresh start once you pay for your crimes. I'll even help you out...because you're a good person." Hawks' words were low and quiet, barely audible over the surrounding ruckus, but I could hear just how sincerely they had been spoken. My fingers crossed themselves immediately, and I prayed that the poor, unfortunate villain would see sense.
"You call yourself a hero..?"

Twice...please...Give it up...

Tongue trapped between my teeth, I knew I should have waited at my post, but once their shouts drowned out all other noise, I just couldn't stand by. Throwing caution to the wind, I traced into the room, only to see dozens of Twices, pouring out of the one whose face was partially visible.

Each one was being cut down in an instant by Hawks' fierce wings. He barely even had to move.
"The speed at which you replicate is astounding." He mused, face unreadable as he glared down at the sobbing villain. "But each successive double is less durable than the last. Pierced by the same large covert feathers, some dissolve, while others don't."

Twice stood slowly, shaking and petrified at my husband's mercy. I pitied him. Oh god, did I pity that man. He was kind, and oh-so loving. Even with his past of crime, he didn't deserve so much pain.

Just surrender. For the love of god, please...

"After coming this far, I could never allow mere sentiment to trip me up." Hawks was mechanical. Wired by the Hero Safety Commission. I had never before seen him like that. "There's still a way forward if you come quietly now...because I like you, Bubaigawara."

What does he mean a way forward..? If he doesn't back down, all we've got to do is knock him out and take him in...

Clenching his fists, tears streaming down over his torn mask, more shapes and clumps began to grow from Twice's body. Instead of himself, however, these took the forms of the original members of the League of Villains, and one in particular made my skin crawl.

"These're my only friends in the world, and y'all aren't invited to join the club!" He screamed, pointing them in our direction. Hawks was quick, but in this instance, I was quicker. Darting forward, I snatched one of the largest feathers that Hawks was holding and took a swing at the clone of Dabi.

The sound it made as it tore through the grafted skin of his throat was supposed to help ease my pain, but it did no such thing. It only made me feel sicker as it reduced to an oily sludge.
"I told you to wait outside." Hawks sounded angry, but he didn't say anything more. All he did was grab back his feather and nudge me to the side without taking his eyes off of our target.

"Songbird, you too?! Oh, I get it! Real Mister and Missus Traitor!" Twice shrieked, now halving his pain-filled rage and directing a portion towards me. "It useless, you scum! You total dirtbags!" My own tears began to well in my eyes. He was the bad guy, so why did I feel like we owed him an apology?

"Why do you think I prioritise speed when taking down villains?" Hawks asked him in the flattest of voices, his hands tightening around the quills of his dual feathers. "Because it's the ones who don't give up that heroes need to fear the most. Experienced villains, with wills of steel refuse to get knocked out."

There was so much I could possibly do, but I was frozen to the spot. It felt like I was interrupting something I shouldn't have been.
"Shut u-" Twice burst forward, but that was a fools move. Hawks was the fastest man alive. I knew that, he knew that. Everybody did...So why did he basically hand himself over to the slash of a feathered blade?

The blood splatter reached far, nearly splashing over the toes of my boots. Hawks was pinning him down now, the sharpest tip pointed directly between the injured villain's eyes. It was checkmate.
"Get it yet?" Hawks sighed, barely even budging as Twice tried to squirm out from under him. "When neither side will give up, somebody has to die..."

Wait...

No matter how hard I tried to speak up, I just couldn't. Had I heard him right? Was he planning on killing him? I hated the idea, I really did, but for some reason, it didn't bother me as much as it should have. Did I want Twice to be murdered? No, never, but he was the most dangerous member of the Paranormal Liberation Front, according to our intel. If he had to die...

"You people...ain't heroes..." Twice coughed out, no longer trying to escape from the inevitable. "Never are...never were...None of ya! You throw us to the wolves...all of us down-trodden folks!" Even from the edge of the room, I could see the pure fear in his eyes. It caused my skin to itch and my guts to twist and knot like headphone cords discarded in a teenager's pockets.

I hate this. I never should have become a hero...

"Y..You don't know...or care...but little Toga, she..she wrapped me up in her hanky, all gentle-like..." I had known. Toga had told me herself about what happened when they infiltrated the Show Hassaikai. It didn't surprise me one bit. Some of the villains really were just good, normal people who got a bad run in life.

"But...well...betcha didn't know this either, that this is the second time! The second time I managed to screw everyone over!" Hawks just stayed there, poised to kill, letting the man speak his mind. His form was rigid, and I could tell this would hurt him more than almost anything else. "Toga...she pro'lly won't do me that kindness ever again...but that's okay..."

Hold on...I hear something...

"I still gotta protect their happiness!" Twice shouted out as I began to turn around, finding it difficult to pry my eyes away from the pair.
"I'll be sure to tell the League that..." When I finally managed to look away, I was too late. My lips had only just parted to cry out, but I was silenced by the flaming burst of cerulean heat.

My skin felt like it was about to melt from my bones, even though I barely received a lick from the edge of the attack, and I stumbled backwards, having to shield my eyes even though I was still desperately trying to make sure Hawks was okay.

When the smoke and flames cleared, my heart stopped. Hawks was alive, but his entire body was scorched and steaming. He shuddered and twitched as Dabi's leather boot came down upon his head, pinning him to the ash-streaked ground.

"There's no need! I heard him loud and clear!"

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***God, I wish I was Hawks rn 🥵

Not sure how many more chapters there's gonna be, but I highly doubt there will be more than ten, if that.

I'm gonna ask this now, before I get too close to the final few chapters...

A?

or

B?

No context. Just choose one. Comment on your choice. 😇

Next Time: Dead Man's Parade***