"Naoru! Naoru, answer me!"

That voice. That booming voice trying to command her to reply. The voice that once told her he could sympathize with her desire to change, the voice that offered her support. This was what pulled Kaere back to consciousness and her mouth opened to say she was alright, but then reality sank in.

Endeavor had not saved her. No one had saved her; she was being held tight against Dabi's chest in the darkness of an alley. Tucked behind a garbage can with the villain's hand covering her mouth the second he noticed she was awake.

She blinked away tears as she started to feel panic trying to push to the surface. Her glasses were sitting crookedly on the bridge of her nose, distorting her vision a little as she stared at the wall across from where she was sitting. Kaere's pulse was accelerating, despite her best efforts to stay calm.

I have to get away! I have to get out to the street and tell Endeavor-san that I'm here! She began to squirm, but Dabi's arm tightened around her waist. The girl winced when his hand on her mouth dug his nails into her cheek. Searing pain ran through her nerves and he muffled her scream with his palm. Both of her hands gripped his forearm as she tried to pull his nails from her skin.

"What's the matter, Kae? Thought you were supposed to be a donor," he taunted, lips beside her ear. "Pain's just part of the job, right?"

"Naoru!" Endeavor was calling for her again, getting closer to the mouth of the alley.

"If he finds us, I'll have to kill him. You don't wanna see your sugar daddy burn, do you? That old man can't handle the heat of my flames."

She bit deep into the inside of her cheek. The pain in her face was unnatural. It felt like her flesh had been cut away and her quirk had only managed to scab it over. What…did he do to me after he knocked me out? A chill ran down her spine when she felt warm breath against the side of her ear.

"Are you gonna be good, Kae?"

Her eyes widened as his other hand slid up along her side. He gripped her neck and coaxed her head back, ignoring how the nails of her left hand were digging at him through his sleeve. Kaere's teary hazel eyes were met with his sharp blue ones and what she saw there terrified the girl.

The way he looked at her now was the same as when he destroyed her right hand. An intense blend of hatred, desire, rage, obsession, a hint of desperation, and above all else a smugness at having caught her like prey. Having the healer he had been searching for. Holding her throat, feeling her racing pulse beneath his fingertips as he leaned down and brushed his lips against her forehead.

"You look…so fucking cute when you're scared."

The tears rolled down her cheeks, making her wince at the stinging sensation that bloomed on the right side of her face. This pain. What did he do? What did he do to me?! To make her situation worse, she could hear Endeavor's heavy footsteps getting closer and then pausing briefly at the opening of the alley.

She could feel her pulse in her ears, her heart beginning to palpitate in terror as Dabi moved a leg between hers and held her tight against him. Kaere was pinned in place and she could feel his lips curve into a smirk when he brought his mouth against the side of her neck. Please! Please look in here! Please! Endeavor-san…has to be stronger than Dabi! He has to be! Please help me!

"Naoru!" The hero's voice echoed off the alley walls, but it was so dark. Dabi had them both tucked just perfectly so they were out of his line of sight. The pain of having help so close, but unable to even see her, made her tears multiply.

Her heart sank when she heard Endeavor's steps moving away down the street, getting further from the alley. She thrashed and twisted in Dabi's hold, trying desperately to free herself. An intense throbbing in her cheek and at the back of her head. When she tumbled out of his hold and fell onto her back, she only managed a whimper before he was on her.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you." The villain straddled her waist, pinning her against the ground, and covered her mouth with his right hand. He kept his eyes on her as his mouth stretched into a malicious grin.

His left hand lifted and he tugged at the neckline of his t-shirt, flashing her something that made her stomach turn. Dabi's whole neck was scarred from burns; she noticed it the day they met. Now, as she stared up at him, she saw a small patch of unmistakably pale skin on his collarbone. The pain in her cheek made sense now. He had harvested a scrap of her flesh while she was unconscious and used it as a patch on himself.

"I wasn't sure it'd take, but check it out. I've had these burns a while and your skin still works on it. Here. You wanna feel it?" The villain leaned down and grasped her left wrist with his hand, forcing her fingertips against his skin where it connected with the patch of hers. His eyes half-closed and he almost looked like he was enjoying it. "You feel that? Heh. You're connected to me right there."

His flesh was hot to the touch and made her wince. Kaere tasted the bitterness of bile rising at the back of her throat. The warmth radiating off of his body was almost suffocating and no matter how much she squirmed or thrashed, he was too heavy and too strong for her to get free. All she could do was stare up at him through her panicked tears as he forced her fingers to trail over his collarbone. The intensity of his stare fell to something that made her even more uneasy; he looked terrifyingly content.

Satisfied, for now, but with madness still clear in his eyes. It gave her chills when she saw the villain looking at her this way and he slowly moved his hand off her mouth. Before she could get a word out, fingers tangled into her hair and he mashed his mouth against hers. He seemed unbothered by the fact that Kaere adamantly refused to kiss him, the fact that she was thrashing in discomfort as he pressed her against the hard ground.

Kaere's left hand was released and that was Dabi's biggest mistake. All that she could think about was escaping from the mad villain on top of her. She grabbed her prosthetic hand and pressed at the topmost joints of her three middle digits. When the fingertips vanished into the appendage and were replaced by scalpels, she sliced across his left shoulder.

Blood dripped onto her hoodie from above. Crimson speckled the right lens of her glasses, her eyes wide when he recoiled. Dabi sat back on her hips and put his right hand against the three lacerations. Bringing his hand away to show the shiny, red smear across his fingers and palm.

He snickered and shook his head. "Heh. Kinda rude, Kae. That's how you react to a kiss, huh? The little mouse's got some fight in her after all." The villain's bloody fingers gripped her face, pressing his nails into her injured cheek and making her whimper. His bright blue eyes were wide, his mouth drawing into a grin. "You're just making this more fun for me!"

Shift P.O.V

Where is she?! His pulse had never been so hard, so swift. The cold wind stung his face as he soared through the night sky, wishing he could be even faster. Dreading what he might find when he did locate her.

Hawks landed just outside of an alley and checked his phone. This was the location she had sent him. No words had come with it, which only made him worry more because it had been just a minute later that he got a call from someone. A call that made his heart sink. Dabi had found Kaere and wanted Hawks to prove himself by helping him catch the League's "cute little healer".

I have to find her before him, but I don't know where to even start. If I call for her to come out, he's going to know where she is. What am I going to do when I do find her? If I don't take her to him, he's going to know something's up.

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked down the alley. It was dark and silent. A chilled breeze blew against his back, making his scarlet feathers puff up a little. Hawks glanced over his shoulder, checking for signs of either the girl or the villain, and then he entered the alleyway.

The inside was cold and made goosebumps rise on his skin beneath the casual clothes he had put on when he left his apartment. When he got the location and call, Hawks had been in his pajamas. Sitting on the couch, looking over the gifts he got in the hopes of helping to win Kaere over again. Now he could only hope that she was still alive.

His shoulders drooped a little, his hands in his pockets as he let a few of his feathers drift off on the breeze. Hawks lowered his gaze to the ground as he took a few more steps and he gritted his teeth when the sound reached him. Ragged breathing, the quietest of whimpers in a female voice he knew all too well.

"Kaere?" The hero lifted his head, squinting to see better in the darkness. He kept his voice quiet, his tone soft. Wanting to coax her out so he could know that she was alright. Every pained sound from her made it feel like his heart was being clutched tighter and tighter by a set of razor-sharp claws. "Kaere, I'm here. It's…going to be okay."

He was lying and he hated himself for it. Things were not going to be okay. Dabi knew he was here. Dabi wanted Hawks to bring Kaere to him. If he refused, everything would be ruined. The villain would know that Hawks could not be trusted and all of the hard work he had put into trying to gain Dabi's confidence would be for nothing.

As he got closer to the source of the ragged breathing, Hawks felt his heart sinking again. There was a smell in the air. Coppery and meaty like blood, but with an edge to it. Something like the scent of cooked flesh. He hurried the rest of the way to the source and his breath caught in his throat when he found her.

Kaere was there. Curled up in a ball of pain behind an old crate. Her skin was shining in some areas with blood and fresh wounds. Her hoodie was torn and had what looked like ashes on it. Her shirt and pants were ripped in places and Hawks could tell even in the darkness that she had new burns.

She looked up at him through her tears, through glasses with cracked and blood-speckled lenses. The girl's right cheek looked like it was mostly a scab and the pain was clear in her gaze. Kaere let him pull her into his arms and it was only then that she felt safe enough to sob from the agony she was in. Trembling as he held her and hiccupping as her tears wetted his shirt.

"I'm here now. It's okay, Kaere. I've got you." He kept his voice lowered, nuzzling his cheek against the side of her neck. It hurt to see her like this. To feel her shaking, to hear the pain in her cries. I have to get her somewhere safe before he finds her again, he decided. Hawks carefully lifted her in his arms, holding her bridal style and offering her a soft smile. "You're going to be okay. I promise."

"That was fast." The voice came from down the alley and was soon followed by approaching footsteps. "Heh. There's my girl."

The hero's crimson wings shifted subconsciously; moving forward in his desire to hide her from the villain that was closing in on them. "What did you do to her?" Hawks kept his back to Dabi and he saw Kaere's small hands grip onto his jacket for reassurance.

"You…really think she's innocent?" Dabi's footsteps stopped a short distance behind him. "Why don't you turn around? Take a look at what she did to me."

He's lying. She wouldn't hurt anyone. Hawks only had to look at her face to reassure himself. Kaere blinked up at him weakly, still clinging to his jacket and watching him from over the edge of her cracked glasses. Blood running from her cheek and trickling along the side of her neck. She was barely holding onto consciousness at this point.

The villain scoffed when Hawks failed to humor him. "How do you think someone with a healing quirk trains?" he started. Dabi took a few steps closer, but Hawks moved his wings in a silent warning. "C'mon. Thought you were smarter than that. You think just because she's cute, she hasn't killed anyone? Why do you think the League contracted her?"

He's lying, Hawks told himself again. He gritted his teeth as Kaere's fingers loosened and her hands fell limply from his jacket. Her head rested against his chest as exhaustion finally overtook the girl.

He turned to face Dabi as the villain moved even closer and his eyes widened. No way…she wouldn't have done something like this. He has to be lying. Hawks could not help letting his gaze roam over the multiple, deep lacerations that littered the villain's abdomen and upper limbs.

Dabi smirked at his expression and held out his bloody arms. "Give her to me. Leader's gonna know you're loyal if you hand her over."

If he gave Kaere to the villain, Hawks would earn Dabi's trust. He would be viewed as someone useful to the League and he could get closer to them. However, the thought of letting her go back to them filled him with dread.

Hawks looked from Dabi down to Kaere. On one hand, he would be letting the Hero Public Safety Commission down if he took the girl and flew off. On the other hand, giving her to the villains would seal her fate as Dabi's captive. She would be used to heal Dabi no matter her condition; pushing her and taking from her until she inevitably had nothing more to offer. At which point, he would undoubtedly kill the girl. Hawks had to choose between doing what the Commission would deem "right" and saving Kaere.