Dabi's first lucid recollection is being thrust into the darkness with fire scorching around his throat as he gasps and claws for anything to quell the pain. Screams of the damned ring all around him as he feels the searing pain dull to a constant throb, then, he feels nothing. He can hear and see nothing. He is nothing.
Yet, he is everything.
It has been a very long time since he's been in the depths of hell and being pulled back so violently throws him in a sour mood. He continues to stalk forward, weaving through the darkness and irritably swatting away the reaching hands, pleading to be let go. Even in death, humans still think that there's a chance of redemption or that there had been a mistake somewhere down the line between dying and being damned for an eternity.
Dabi could honestly not care less about their pleas and half-assed promises to change. He's here for one thing and one thing only.
A specific soul that will not be able to control him, not this time when they're in his turf now. Finding him will be easy, even through the churning waves of faceless souls- he can hunt down the man with his eyes closed. In fact, he can sense the spirit nearby. A sly and wicked grin grows as he heads towards the presence.
"Well, well, well." He announces, raising an eyebrow and smirking down at Enji's floating spirit.
"Touya, I demand to be let out of this place." Dabi merely clicks his tongue and shakes his head, his smile growing more sinister and blue fire begins to envelope him.
"I believe that you're forgetting one thing, old man." Enji's eye narrow and watch him cautiously as Dabi takes another step closer.
"Our agreement was once that you died, I would get your soul- and if you ask me," He pauses, looking down at Enji before sweeping an arm around, "It don't look like we're on Earth anymore."
"To-"
"Welcome to hell." He begins to laugh, stretching his maw wider until he swallows Enji whole- destroying his soul.
Hawks clenches his fists and glares up at Doctor Ujiko, around them, the building gives one last shudder before it collapses from Shigaraki's touch. His group lets out a shriek in surprise and raise their arms to cover their faces. Black dust is obscuring Hawks' view but he doesn't hesitate to summon more feathers, pleading for them to seek out his group and carry them to safety.
A massive beam falls down in front of him and Hawks shouts out, stumbling backwards. Between the still burning of Dabi's fire and the absolute carnage from Shigaraki's touch, Hawks finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He can only hope that he got everyone out in time, if his death means the end of Doctor Ujiko, he supposes that he can be happy with that. All around him, fire crackles and pops and exploding concrete fills his ears like a twisted symphony. He watches in slow motion as a block of concrete begins to tilt from above him, he's frozen in place and closes his eyes.
"Hey, this is no time to play the martyr." Glancing up, he sees Shigaraki perched on the beam and he rests his hand against the concrete, bursting it to dust. Black particles rain down around him like snow and Hawks flashes him a smile.
Shrapnel explodes from Hawks' left and rips through Shigaraki. Silence drowns out Hawks' own screaming and Shigaraki looks down to the gaping hole in his torso. His fingers touch it gently and looks down at Hawks with a wistful smile.
"Seems that I've become the martyr." Hawks can only watch on as Shigaraki throws up a strange goopy grey consistency before exploding, the goop falls down in clumps and mixes in with the ash.
"He was a fool." A soft voice speaks besides him, Hawks whips around to see Shigaraki slouched over and watching the steady fall of goop and ash.
"Wh-" Shigaraki side glances over to Hawks and snorts.
"Jin apparently found out about the magic of friendship," He jerks a thumb behind him and sees an army of Shigarakis clambering through the ruins, "He didn't want you to be alone with the doctor." As soon as those words leave Shigaraki's mouth, a pile of ruins burst into the sky and a twisted hand claws up. Hawks and Jin's army stop and watch as the contorted figure rises.
Bones jut out through his skin, white shining against the pallid grey of his decaying flesh. Hawks pulls a face when the corrupted doctor looks up, chunks of grey flesh hang in pieces and his eyes are sunken into his face. Shriveled lips pull back, cracking in places- producing thick black blood that dribbles slowly down his chin, into a mocking grin and the doctor begins to laugh, blood and chunks of blackened tissue escape his lips when he laughs and Hawks balks at the sight.
He's brought back to a childhood memory of watching The Mummy, he had been petrified of the shambling monster back then. Seeing Doctor Ujiko's decaying body walking towards him with an outstretched hand only reminds him of his fears from when he was little.
Doctor Ujiko lurches forward, long dried and grey flesh hang in strands around his skeletal fingers and he lets out another laugh. His mouth stretches wider and Hawks wants to throw up as a multitude of centipedes burst from his mouth. He shares a glance with the Shigaraki next to him and suddenly, the blue haired monster standing by him looks like he could be Japan's next top model compared to Doctor Ujiko.
A Shigaraki throws himself at the doctor but bursts into nothingness when Doctor Ujiko engulfs him in pure white fire.
"How in the fuck are we gonna beat that?" Shigaraki next to him scoffs and cracks his neck.
"He's just the final boss."
"That's not at all comforting."
"There's always a way to beat the boss." A burst of flame erupts from the ground and Hawks launches himself upwards to avoid it, Shigaraki wasn't so fortunate and all that's left of him is the goop.
"Yeah, okay. Fight the final boss you said, it would be possible you said." He grumbles and careens through the sky, looking for a chance to strike. He tilts to the left as an explosion of fire is launched up towards him and he knows what he has to do.
Nobody will be able to get close to the doctor, they'll be worn down to the edge of exhaustion and then snuffed out by him. What they need is someone who can fight fire with fire. Seeing his group moving below him, he folds his wings in and dives towards him.
"Hawks!" Himiko shouts, smiling and pointing over to the fight, "Look what Jin did!" He smiles quickly to her, nodding and looks around the group. Everyone is in rough condition and the real Shigaraki looks like he's about to pass out. Hawks clicks his tongue and then sees a slender figure approach through the smoke.
A blue and grey eye glows through the haze and with a raise of his right arm, the temperature instantly drops below freezing. Air puffs out from between everyone's lips and they watch as a tremendous glacier breaks from the ground, ice cracking fills their ears before it's thrown in the doctor's direction. A wall of ice bursts around them, protecting them from an explosion of steam as the glacier collides with Doctor Ujiko.
Through the crystailline blue, they can barely make out the two silhouettes that begin to fight with fire and ice.
"He's not going to survive out there." Himiko notes, carefully watching as Shouto dodges and weaves around white fire.
"Shouto's stronger than what you think, give him credit." Izuku blinks blearily up and Hawks frowns.
"Children shouldn't have to fight an adult's fight."
"What do you want us to do then, Hawks? It's not like I have a potion of fire resistance on me." Spinner grumbles. Izuku also adds in that Shouto isn't a child because he's sixteen.
"That still counts as a kid." Shigaraki snaps back, red eyes narrow to the green haired teen and then Shigaraki tilts his head, turning to face Hawks with a wistful look.
"You know what you have to do."
"We are not hurling Hawks out there, are you crazy? He'll be a rotisserie chicken in five minutes!" Rumi hisses and Hawks chuckles, shaking his head.
"I'll be fine."
"Uh, look at them out there! I know that you think that you're all crazy powerful because you're half angel or whatever but you didn't even know about that until recently! How are you going to beat that?" She motions to the figure engulfed in black and almost liquid-like shadows as he makes a grab for Shouto. Shouto propels himself off of the ground with a blast of fire and hits Doctor Ujiko with shards of ice.
"Because I won't be alone." Hawks murmurs and takes out a razor sharp feather. He slices it through the barrier of ice easily and steps out of the frozen refuge. Hawks rolls back his shoulders and takes a moment to stare up at the two shadows fighting up in the sky. A frown tugs at the corner of his mouth and Hawks closes his eyes.
He's only summoned others in a realm before and honestly has no idea if what he's about to do will even work but he can't let his doubts fog his mind. Reaching out in his mind, he pokes and prods for the familiar presence of Dabi.
It doesn't come to his shock that he's not holed up in the realm and he moves on and away from the realm. He calls out for the wielder of the blue flames and in the far crevasses of the stretching darkness, he feels a spark of azure fire.
He doesn't need to reach out towards the spark because it latches onto his soul, hungrily. A smile flickers on his lips and he begins to reel it backwards as if he's at a lake and fishing rather than trying to even out the fight for their lives. Before he can fully pull the demon from hell, a freezing cold body crashes into him and Hawks' eyes fling open.
An unconscious Shouto is pinning him down and Hawks tries to wiggle away but a smoking foot presses firmly against Shouto's back.
"Your ignorance to the fact that you believe that you could defeat me is pathetic. Once I am finished here, I will bring humanity to its knees and create a new era. They will be wrought in the iron shackles of their own fear and hate. They will become as twisted and as ugly as they have deemed us. They will be the scum of society and I-"
"What is it with pretentious assholes and their love for monologues?" A tenor voice cuts through Doctor Ujiko's speech and Hawks cranes his neck over Shouto's shoulder to see a ring of furious azure hellfire and from the middle stands a tall figure with long and spiraling horns. Dabi's skin is unmarred and his pale skin is thrown in shadows and highlights from his fire. A crooked smile grows on Dabi's lips and he tilts his head, bright ice blue eyes look down at Hawks.
"What did I tell you, always up to no good." Dabi turns his attention back to Doctor Ujiko and throws his head back, laughing.
"I've spent my time living in fear and hatred, you know what happens? People rise up and destroy their oppressors, you'll be no different." Doctor Ujiko hisses and launches towards Dabi. Both demons clash together and the air explodes in scorching heat as white and blue fire combine. A wave of ice covers Shouto and Hawks right as a wave of blinding fire rushes towards them.
"Dabi won't be able to take him down by himself." Shouto sits up and mumbles, staring up at his brother as Doctor Ujiko grabs hold of him and sets the demon on fire, even through the barrier of ice- Hawks can hear the hissing of burning flesh. Ice around them begins to crack and crumble into dust, Hawks turns around to see Shigaraki standing with the rest of the group, sans Izuku and Rumi, behind him.
"He won't be alone." Shigaraki flatly replies and dashes towards the two demons. Himiko and Jin pause to help Shouto and Hawks to their feet and everyone turns to watch Shigaraki launch towards Doctor Ujiko without hesitating.
"Time to take names and kick ass!" Jin shouts and doubles over, letting his second form take shape. Hawks and Shouto share a knowing nod before Hawks unfurls his wings, taking to the air as Shouto rises with him under a pillar of ice.
"We need to distract Doctor Ujiko long enough for Dabi to finish him off." Hawks shouts over the screaming of the wind and Shouto nods. Hawks looks over, seeing determination burning in the teenager's eyes.
"Don't get close to him, use these and stay out his reach." Hawks summons more feathers and sends them Shouto's way, Shouto grabs hold of the crimson feathers and sets them on fire, hurtling them down towards the doctor. They watch from above as the feathers pierce through Doctor Ujiko's thin skin and red fire begins to coat him. Hawks flies away from Shouto and his barrage of flaming feathers and he swoops around, sending razor sharp feathers of his own down towards the doctor.
Between being attacked by everyone and Dabi, Doctor Ujiko begins to fall back, snarling like a rabid animal. Sunken eyes roll madly and he shrieks, a twenty foot pillar of fire begins to swirl into a tornado and at the eye of the storm, only Dabi and Doctor Ujiko stand. Everyone else falls back to a safer distance and Shigaraki curses under his breath. Hawks lands down next to him and studies the two demons fighting from the swirling vortex of white and blue.
Green lighting crackles around them, turning around, they see Izuku standing with his arms outreached towards the dark sky. Hawks watches in awe as the green lightening covers his whole body and Izuku brings a hand up towards the fire, taking a middle finger against his thumb- he flicks the finger and a massive bolt of green lightening travels from his body and blasts towards the fire. Hawks squints against the explosion of light, bringing a hand to shield his eyes, he sees Dabi standing over a quickly disintegrating form of Doctor Ujiko.
Black liquid bubbles around Doctor Ujiko and he lets out a dry laugh.
"This form may be useless now, but that will not stop me." Dabi presses a clawed foot against the doctor's chest and stomps down. A mass of black rises up from the body and swirls around angrily. It looms over everyone and a booming laughter shakes the ruined grounds around them. Hawks feels a warmth of energy filling his body and looking down, he sees the feather in his hand coated in a soft and glowing gold light. A voice in his head tells him that it will serve as the weapon to bring an end of the demon.
The feather in his hand begins to quiver and with a mind of its own, shoots out and lands right in the center of the demonic mass. Silence falls around them and then from the inside, golden light cracks through the black cloud, steadily growing brighter and brighter until it swells and envelopes the demon. Screaming can be heard for a fraction of a second before the gold light implodes and brings an end to the demon.
Dabi looks over his shoulder at Hawks, his bright blue eyes shining with admiration and excitement.
"Damn, remind me to never get on your bad side." Everyone gathers around Hawks, cheering and he looks around his group. They're all beat up and exhausted but there's a fire in their eyes and even though they all look like a soft gust of wind could blow them over, they stand tall and proud.
A warm hand takes hold of his own and Hawks looks up to see Dabi smiling down at him, before he had been unmarred but now he sees the demon covered in purple burns once again. Dabi picks up on his lingering gaze and shrugs with a growing crooked smile.
"I like 'em, they give me character." Through the smell of burnt and singed flesh, Hawks can't smell the familiar burning sulfur from Dabi and instead there's a warm smell to him, a hint of cinnamon that serves as an undertone to a more strong scent of a bonfire on a warm summer night.
Hawks finally succumbs to his aching muscles and bucks to his knees, Dabi knees next to him and gently cups his face between his hands. The realization on what just happened hits him all at once and he lets out a soft and choked sob, his eyes pooling with tears. Dabi snorts and catches a tear with his thumb and gazes longingly at Hawks with a look so soft that he feels like he can just drift away in the turquoise.
All around them, the noise dies down and Hawks feels like he's thousands of miles away from everyone else. He's not scared this time though, in his bubble, Dabi sits with him- reminding him that he's never truly alone. With a shaking hand, he grabs hold of Dabi's shirt and pulls him forward.
Their lips crash together nearly awkwardly but Hawks doesn't care. He relishes in the softness of Dabi's warm lips and feels the curving of a growing smile on Dabi's lips. Hawks brings his hands up and runs them through Dabi's thick and coarse hair as Dabi deepens the kiss.
"I was so-" Hawks starts, furrowing his eyebrows and clings closer to Dabi as the demon softly sighs.
"Shh," Dabi hushes Hawks, "I'm here now and I ain't goin' anywhere." He murmurs quietly over Hawks' lips and he nods.
"Hey! Get a room you two!" Suddenly, their private bubble is popped by Jin's loud shout and Hawks pulls away with a chuckle. Shigaraki looks down at them once and rolls his eyes before he motions everyone to follow him.
They stand over the ruined remains of the facility and Spinner kicks at a still burning beam.
"What do we do now?" Himiko asks, her ochre eyes roll over everyone and in turn, they look at Shigaraki. Slowly, he faces back towards them, a grim smile on his cracked lips.
"We're gonna be legends."
"How?" Jin asks and Shigaraki turns his gaze up to the night sky, seeing the moon for the first time in fifteen years.
"Because, we're going to get their attention and then teach them a lesson. Eventually they're gonna know who's right. The truth will be a weapon to fight this world of ill intentions. This isn't the only facility around that does this shit to people like us, they'll learn. Oh, they'll learn."
Hawks takes a sip from his coffee and through the steam he quietly studies everyone that's crowded into the small room. He shares a look with Spinner, rolling his eyes dramatically and takes another drink of the coffee. He stretches out his legs and sighs, running a hand through his ashy hair. Shigaraki stops talking and looks at him expectantly.
"Is there something that you would like to contribute?" It's a question posing as a dare to challenge him and Hawks leans back into the wooden chair and smiles up at him.
"Not at all, please, continue." Himiko snorts and from the corner of his eye, Kurogiri shakes his head. Dabi offers Hawks a crooked smile and rests a warm hand on his leg. Shigaraki gives him one final pointed glare before going over their next plan of action.
It has been one year since their breakout of facility 0413. One year since everyone had stood at the cliff side on the outskirts of town and feeling wind against their skin as they finally get their taste of freedom.
One year since Izuku had waggled his fingers and mumbled some words, casting some illusion over them- making them appear entirely human. Shigaraki still tilts dangerously in the underfed and overly tired department but seeing him with just two arms, makes him look almost normal. Almost. Hawks figures that Shigaraki will never appear normal, not with his wavy and unruly blue hair, deep ruby eyes and the signature scarring over his lips and right eye. Just the thought of him with a more natural hair and eye color makes him crack up, earning another glare from Shigaraki.
Dabi probably had a dramatic change almost rivaling that of Shigaraki. His horns remain shrouded and instead of his almost animalistic legs, he has a normal pair of human legs. His teeth are no longer as pointed but he did ask to keep them pointed enough just to be slightly off putting when dealing with humans. To no one's surprise, he also asked to keep his scarring- claiming that he wants to look at them to remind himself that even demons can change and be rebirthed, straying from the norms of banding together to bring an end to everything good.
Himiko and Jin haven't changed at all. Himiko outright refused Izuku's offer to help her blend in more, the only noticeable thing about her being the sharp points of her canines. She begged to keep them, adamant that they look cute. Jin already looks entirely human until he hurls himself into sicko mode.
Seeing Spinner and Kurogiri in human form still sits weird with Hawks, if he stares at them for too long- he can pick up imperfections. Kurogiri's form seems to have no pores whatsoever and Spinner has teeth that are just slightly too sharp for a human to have. Nonetheless, they're unsettling to look at. Both of them know this, Kurogiri seems to hang back in the shadows while Spinner uses it to his advantage when heckling others.
Hawks, himself, doesn't change much- just the shrouding of his wings. He knows that they're there though so he's not too hung up at the fact of appearing like a normal human again, if he begins to feel trapped, all it takes is to just reach behind himself and his fingers will brush against his shrouded wings.
He wonders if the others feel like strangers within their façade too.
One year since they've broken out and they all have decided to stick together, letting Shigaraki lead them from place to place, like a shepard guiding his flock of sheep. They're certainly not sheep though, more like wolves in sheep's clothing.
Since breaking out, they've heard news of other branches of The Federal H.E.R.O. Safety Commission are hidden throughout Japan. Shigaraki and everyone else had firmly agreed that they will infiltrate each and every facility and bringing an end to the Commission.
For shits and giggles, Shigaraki had named their group The League of Villains.
Author's Note
Thank you everyone for reading this, I know I say this at the end of all my fics but it really does mean a lot to me and I'm so, so, so thankful for all the kudos, reads and comments. Everyone is always so kind even when the characters I write are OOC and probably a little skewed lol.
Thank you again! I'm excited to announce that Even the Worst of Us will be coming back along with another LOV&Eri fic! I've been putting those series off but will be returning to them!
That's all for now, reviews are always welcome!