Top pic credit: KadeArt

"Mom....mom....mom....mom. Please stop crying. It's alright. I'm alive. I'm okay. I promise." I sighed gently into the phone, holding in my sickly coughs so she didn't worry about me.

"A-A-Ari..." My mom choked out, not being able to form anything coherent, other than her daughter's name.

I adjusted myself in the bed slightly, watching Mr. Aizawa look out the window of my hospital room.

I felt my heart squeeze as my mom's sobs continued wracking into the phone.

"Hey-dad, will you please calm her down. She's going to hurt herself." I stated softly, running a hand through my, now washed, hair.

I only felt more tears clouding my eyes, as my dad's sniffles sounded through the phone.

"A-Ari, sweetheart. W-We're coming to s-see you. Don't worry honey, everything's going to be okay. I'm going to protect you. I won't let anyone hurt you again." My dad strained out, his voice shaky as he was obviously crying, too.

I closed my eyes, throwing my head back against the pillows. I wanted nothing more than for my parents to hold me in their arms. I'm just a kid, missing her mom and dad.

But still, I needed to be strong for them.

"Dad, don't push yourself. I know traveling is hard for you. I'll stop by the house, as soon as I can. Sam, make mom that tea she likes, and sit her down. Will you? I'm worried about her breathing." I pleaded softly, wishing my parents would stop crying.

"S-Sure, Ari. I'll do that. But...p-please come home soon, sis. I-I miss you." My little brother said, his voice rough and low. I smiled softly, knowing he was trying to put on a strong front for my parents. He was trying to be a man.

"I will, Sammy. I promise, I will." I said reassuringly, hearing the phone I was using still rapidly lighting up with multiple messages about my state and whereabouts.

I should probably give Mr. Aizawa his phone back.

Reluctantly, I said goodbye to my family...feeling incredibly guilty about the state I left them in. But, at least now they knew I was alive.

As soon as I hung up, I let out a deflated sigh, rubbing my tired face.

Aizawa came back over once he realized I was off the phone, taking a seat in the chair next to my bed.

He placed a reassuring hand on my bandaged, stitched shoulder, before remembering my stab wound. Quickly he removed it, opting to place his hand on my wrist instead.

"They're just worried about you." He reassured, seeing my slight distress over my conversation with my family.

"And I never wanted to make them worry." I whispered, blankly looking down at my lap.

"I know you didn't. But, that's how families are. They'll recover. And so will you." He said softly, doing his absolute to help me through this.

Mr. Aizawa has watched me grow into a hero for the past three years. He's helped me learn. He's helped me grow. I think of him as my teacher. But, more than that, I think of him as my friend.

The dinging notifications from his phone continued ringing, causing him to scoff in annoyance and put it on mute.

I laughed weakly, trying to alleviate some of the heaviness in the room.

"Who knew you were so popular, Mr. A?" I grinned, hearing him groan in response.

"Not me. You. All of the messages are about your well being. The hospital called me first, and I came to see you right away. I'm the only one allowed to be with you right now, so people are getting a little anxious. Especially, Endeavor. Man won't leave me alone." He said, rolling his eyes in annoyance for the fire man.

My brows raised in slight shock at his words.

"Endeavor?! Gotta say, that's a little unexpected." I chuckled.

"Right, you're telling me. The man sent his entire agency on a hunt to find you. Well, he's not the only one. I took my class 1-A out to search for you, too. Best Jeanist came out of retirement, temporarily, just to search for you..." Aizawa started off, before he gripped my wrist a little tighter.

I turned my attention to him, seeing there was something else he needed to say.

"What's interesting though....is the one person I haven't heard from...is Hawks." Aizawa stated, searching my face for any type of reaction.

My heart jumped at the name....once again putting me in the position of moral conflict.

I remained quiet, allowing Aizawa to continue.

"I saw him the night of your disappearance, but-"

"What? You did?" I asked in shock, finally finding the words to speak.

"Yes. I called him after you were kidnapped. He came to the school right away to assess the scene." He said, causing my eyes to widen.

What? Keigo came to the school? He came to the school, before he came to the league of villains?

"I was a little worried about him. He seemed stressed and isolated. A little off. A little.....reckless at your disappearance. One minute, Endeavor and I were speaking with him, and then in the next minute.....we turned around, and he was gone. I....I don't know where he went after that. Endeavor hasn't been able to get ahold of him, either. No one has seen or heard from him, since. His agency has been closed, too, meaning he hasn't come back to town. I'm assuming he went to look for you. I'm just hoping he didn't get himself into trouble. I keep insisting to the hero public safety commission that he needs to be reported as a missing hero, but they refuse to make that case file on him. That's a mistake, if you ask me. Sure, he's the number two hero, but he's also twenty two. He's still just a kid, who can be reckless." He explained, as I silently took in every word.

I didn't say anything in reply, not knowing how to handle his statement.

"I'm assuming you haven't heard anything from Hawks?" Aizawa asked me straight on, causing my heart to drop.

Don't lie. Don't lie to him. Aizawa is a good man.
He deserves to know the truth.

He trusts me.

He's the traitor you've been looking for, Mr. Aizawa.

"I-I......no. I...haven't heard anything from Hawks." I whispered out blankly, feeling like absolute shit for lying to the people I care about.

I've been in the hospital for about a day, and I haven't told a soul about Keigo's dirty little secret. I know it's wrong. There should have already been a search team coming for him, trying to put him in jail.

But....I can't do it. Not yet.

I just....can't. I don't know when I'll be able to. I guess I just need time. Time to process it. Time to accept it.

This whole situation has me feeling very empty. Very unsure. Very conflicted.

I watched Aizawa nod in approval, causing me to feel even worse.

I hate how he just takes what I say as truth, because he believes in me.

There was a comfortable silence between us, as I looked up at the television, seeing my school pictured plastered all over the screen.

I felt my stomach twist up at the breaking news headline:

MISSING UA THIRD YEAR, ARI PARKER, FOUND-ALIVE AND UNHARMED, THANKS TO HER HERO TRAINING. MORE UPDATES COMING SOON.

LATER: WHY YOU SHOULD ENROLL YOUR KID IN THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION'S HERO TRAINING PROGRAM TODAY.

Alive and unharmed. Thanks to my hero training. Yeah right.

My hero training didn't do anything for me, during my time with the villains. Hero or not, I was on death's doorstep...

And the only person, brave and willing enough, to pull me away from it...was Keigo Takami.

.......

I sighed tiredly, as I made my way into my dorm room for the first time in days.

Luckily, my door and window had been fixed, so I was allowed my privacy. My burnt bed sheets had been replaced, the blood, glass, and debris from my fight with Dabi and Twice had been cleaned, and all of my unbroken personal belongings were neatly packed away in a bag-probably packed to return to my parents in case I didn't make it back. The walls were still streaked with charred marks, but I don't really care.

I closed my door, letting out a sickly sneeze as I tossed the unopened medication from the hospital onto my repaired desk. I'll take it later. There's something else I want to do first.

I caught a glance at myself in my wall mirror, which miraculously, had managed to remain in tact.

It's the first time I've looked at myself in awhile, and considering how beat up I look now...I can't imagine what I looked like a few days ago.

My shoulder was wrapped up in bandages, along with other parts of my body. I had a slash across my cheekbone from Toga's knife. It looked like it would scar, unfortunately.

But, what caught my attention the most was the dark black and blue bruise that painted the side of my face, courtesy of Keigo's fist.

I gently brushed my fingertips over the bruise, remembering the moment he gave it to me...

"Brace yourself, chicky. While Dabi was about to kill you, I'm simply going to put you to sleep."

I blankly stared at myself, finally reflecting on that sentence for the very first time.

Dabi really was about to kill me, before Keigo stepped in.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, I wordlessly walked to my charred closet, thankful that my backpack hadn't been destroyed.

I pulled out my laptop, sitting on my bed as I started to type away.

Logging into the league of villains work Mr. Aizawa and I created, I immediately did something that I should have done before. Something so easy. So simple. It would have shown me everything I needed to know about Keigo. But I trusted him so much, I never even considered the possibility to look.

Until now...

Using Aizawa's high tech spyware, I pulled up a list of cellphone ip addresses that have been in this area, aka my room. Nejire's phone address came up, along with Mirio, Tamaki, a few others.

And his.

"Gotcha..." I muttered to myself, clicking on Keigo's phone number.

Pulling up his phone address, and working my tech magic, I began scrolling through his call list, seeing Diane's number pop up quite a bit, along with Endeavor's, and a few other heroes.

My heart squeezed when I saw the high amount of times my number popped up.

A few moments later, I found what I was looking for. Calls exchanged between Keigo and the unknown number, who's probably Dabi.

I narrowed my eyes at the time stamps of the calls, seeing they usually took place at odd hours of the day.

I clicked on one of the recording codes, holding my breath as I waited for the call data to play:

"Talk to me." Keigo stated in his Hawks voice, making my blood curdle all over again.

"You're late. If you're not here at the meeting spot in three minutes, I'm leaving." Dabi muttered out in reply.

"Relax, princess. I'll be there shortly." Keigo mocked, before the line went dead.

Gritting my teeth, I immediately clicked on another call:

"Dabi, the meeting on the coast. We'll need to reschedule. The heroes are on to us." Keigo said lowly.

"What do you suggest?" Dabi sighed in annoyance.

"We'll postpone until the day after tomorrow. We can meet at the coast then. Heroes won't be there, I'm sure of it. Over and out." Keigo stated, before hanging up once again.

My brows raised in familiarity, as I looked at the date and time stamp of the call.

This call was made the day Keigo and I staked out the warehouse. After I went through all of that trouble to find Dabi's meeting pattern. I was so upset he didn't show up.

He didn't show up, because of Keigo.

"God damn it. What am I supposed to do with you, Keigo..." I muttered tiredly, rubbing my bruised face in stress.

So much conflict. Guilt. Confusion. What do I do?

I felt a little nauseous as I looked at the amount of calls Keigo and Dabi have made with each other, not having the heart to look through anymore right now.

Closing my laptop, I robotically climbed into my bed, muting my phone that was going crazy with messages and notifications from my friends.

I ignored all of them, not having it in me to respond. I know that's probably rude, but...

I just need a break.

.......

I don't know how many hours it had been, but I was still lying in the same exact sleeping position, getting absolutely no sleep.

My thoughts were going crazy, as I checked my alarm clock.

1:57am

I sighed in annoyance with myself. I was able to catch some sleep at the hospital, but not more than four or five hours. I was still completely exhausted.

But, I just can't stop thinking about-

Thump.

My half lidded eyes shot wide open, as I heard a soft thump sound from outside my window.

Feeling the post traumatic stress kick in from my fight with Dabi, I immediately dove off my bed, grabbing the dagger I decided to hide under my pillow now.

I hid behind my bed, using it as a shield as I carefully waited to see if there would be anymore rustlings from my window.

Maybe it was just a tree branch.

Gripping the knife in my hand, my adrenaline spiked as I saw the shadowed outline of a figure perched atop my window sill. My sheer curtains were blocking their features.

I grit my teeth, as I heard the sound of my window lock being fiddled with, before a small clicking sound was heard. They easily picked my lock.

Watching the window slowly slide open, I heard the small huffs of breathing coming from the intruder....

Along with two giant red wings.

Perfect. Exactly who I was hoping for. I'm going to beat his ass.

Giving Keigo no time to process, I quickly leapt out from behind my bed, grabbing my blanket off my bed as I charged at him.

His eyes widened, clearly surprised and caught off guard, before he quickly spread his wings in defense.

"Oh shit-" He muttered in panic, his eyes locking onto the sharp dagger in my hand.

He could tell by my anger that I was out for blood at the moment, so I wasn't surprised when he started fighting back. Of course he was gonna try to defend himself, so I didn't kill him.

He quickly shot a dull feather at me, trying to hold me back.

My adrenaline was higher than its ever been, as I quickly rolled to the side, hearing his feather whizz past me.

Heh, "I never miss," he says-

Keigo grit his teeth at his miss fire, quickly shooting another feather at me. Once again, he missed.

I quickly threw my bed comforter in his face to distract his sight, before reaching out blindly and feeling my fingers lock around his throat.

"Ow-Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute, Ari! Just hold on a sec!!-" He started saying, as I harshly slammed him backwards into the window, causing him to grunt as the air left his lungs too quickly.

I flipped the sharp part of the dagger in my hand, whipping the blunt hilt of it full force across his beautiful, stupid face.

Blood flew from his mouth and nose, yet he didn't even let out a peep of pain.

I saw his hands and wings coming up to stop me, causing me to immediately activate my quirk on him.

"God damn it-" He groaned out, realizing he couldn't move.

I harshly pinned him up against the wall, quickly pressing the sharp part of the dagger against his throat.

Finally getting a look at him for the first time tonight, I glared into his golden eyes.

We were both breathing heavy from the small fight we just had, our faces inches apart.

Keigo wordlessly looked down at me, my heart jumping when I noticed the warmness that had returned to his eyes. The warmness I haven't seen in days. That cold sinister man I had come to know was nowhere to be found.

I kept my knife pressed to his throat, our hot breaths mixing into each other's mouths from the close proximity.

I almost punched him in the face again when I saw his eyes trail down to my mouth, watching him bite his bloody lip slightly as he was clearly thinking about us kissing.

Is he serious right now...

Snapping him out of his thoughts, I quickly pressed my knife deeper against his throat...pushing his head rougher into the wall. My fingers locked tighter around his neck, choking him harder to knock his ego down a few notches.

A lazy smile grazed his face at my actions, seeming completely unbothered.

"Ah hah, sorry about that. It's just been a while...and you're a hard one for me to resist, chicky." He chuckled breathlessly, innocently shooting his gaze up to the ceiling.

Clearly, he knew he'd been caught looking at my lips, and while he let out a meaningless apology, he still seemed absolutely shameless about it. It's almost like he wanted me to know he was doing it.

What a cheeky little bastard.

Does he really think I'll just fawn over him like that so easily? After everything he's done?

I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn't realize how hard I was actually choking Keigo.

My gaze snapped back to him, upon hearing his strained gasps for air. His blonde locks fell messily into his face, his brows furrowed in discomfort.

Yet, he didn't beg or protest for me to stop. He just allowed me to do it. He knew how mad I was at him.

Releasing my grip slightly, he inhaled sharply for fresh air...returning his eyes to mine, shooting me a small smile.

Stop smiling at me like that, you fucking idiot. I won't hesitate to murder you.

Finally finding the words to speak, I cleared my raspy throat.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit your god damn throat, Hawks."