Told You it would be out fast! Enjoy all the pain, and after this chapter there will be one more because I wrote that one months ago so it's all ready to go. I'm spoiling you all today.
"Now Hawks, let's begin"
As ten year old Keigo nodded his head, he heard the commission president's silent heeled steps make their way across the floor before snapping her fingers as one of the agents next to her pulled out a simple black blindfold.
He knew the sight anywhere, the little boy's eyes falling at the sight before the woman spoke like knives, clear and sharp. "Today you're going to learn how to use your feathers correctly. No more of these beginner exercises. If you want to be a capable hero then you must learn how to control them at all times.."
The blonde haired boy felt himself nod robotically before speaking out. "But how do I..?"
Yet that's when the president's voice turned cold, his entire body flinching as she cut him off immediately, displeasure in her tone. "Did I give you permission to interrupt me Little Keigo? I think not."
Pressing his lips together in manufactured shame, Keigo dipped his head into a hard bow before shaking his head. He shouldn't know better than to interrupt her, the boy was just curious about the exercise that's all.
Seeing him silent only caused the women to frown though. "I need an apology."
And almost immediately the words spilled from Keigo's lips without a second thought, almost like he didn't even think about them. "Sorry, it won't happen again."
Like the good little lap dog he was, the president's icy demeanor then washed away, knowing she had gotten exactly what she wanted. "Good. Now as I was saying, this exercise is to help you control your quirk even more. Your feathers sharpen based on emotion, so you need to use that."
Keigo already knew that though, knowing that his little feathers seemed to sharpen given heightened states of terror, emotions and anger. It was his trigger, the natural response to his feelings that he couldn't ever hide.
It was simple, the stronger the emotion, the more dangerous the feather was.
He paused his thoughts though when one of the agents placed the black blindfold over his eyes a second later before all Keigo saw was the familiar darkness he had learned to cope with as an agent.
The president was watching, so he knew he couldn't mess this up, not if he wanted to be a cable hero someday, not if he wanted to protect his little sister from the world.
Hearing her voice through the darkness, the president spoke. "Now Hawks, I want you to show me just how strong you can make your feathers, sharpen them to the most dangerous level. Let's see how useful you are.."
And so, he tried. He began to think about the things that brought i'm the most emotion, his father, the abuse he and his sister had to deal with, the horrible reality of leaving his sister behind, he forced himself to think about all of it in order to get emotional.
Very slowly he felt his feathers tense up at the ideas, growing sharper at each moment before his wings detected that the president threw something in his direction, and that she was expecting his feathers to cut through it.
Preparing himself, Keigo then gritted his teeth in the overflow of feelings before he detached one of his feathers from his wings before aiming it at the object with the clear intent to cut it in half, to show everyone that he could do it.
He heard his feather make contact with the object, the light tap whizzing through the space, completely ripping the feather into two just before it connected with his head a second later.
Feeling all the wind knock out of him, little Keigo fell to the floor with a groan only to feel warm liquid pour down the side of his face before tearing the blindfold off and seeing a medium sized cinderblock on the ground and the remains of his feather next to it.
That's what the president had thrown at him?! He could've been knocked out if he wasn't fast enough.
Just then, the boy was stopped when he felt someone whip their hand across his face, causing the boy to cough out a spit of blood as the president shouted back. "You useless little boy, that feather wasn't strong enough. Do it again."
Feeling a wave of shame in his throat, Keigo then felt himself stumble to his feet before forcing the idea of quitting away from his mind. He could do this, he knew he could. He had to do it again, for her, for his sister, for everyone.
And so he forced his own nightmares forward, his fears completely consuming the boy in the process as the president made him redo the training over and over, throwing cinder blocks in his direction until Hawks was able to slice through one of them completely.
Until he hated what he had become for the sake of a simple order.
Feeling the air turn deathly cold, Hawks stared into the eyes of someone he thought he knew so clearly up until this very moment. His sister, his little baby sister, he thought he knew everything about her, he thought he understood everything.
But it turns out he knew nothing at all.
Because staring back at him was now a new set of eyes of someone he didn't even recognize, someone that took absolute pleasure in seeing him be destroyed so internally like this.
Hikari was a villain, she was Valkyrie? No, impossible it couldn't be. This girl, he had held her when she cried, stayed with her throughout their father's abuse for years, he had cared for her and loved her for years. This wasn't right, there had to be some kind of misunderstanding.
Feeling his mouth run dry, Hawks forced any kind of words to reach his lips, the stutter from his shock completely evident now. "H-Hikari, you're...you're…"
He didn't even have the heart to finish that sentence. You're a villain, you're Valkyrie?
Hikari seemed to understand what he was trying to say though, taking a step closer to her dear brother before batting her eyes once. "What, a villain? Yeah, sorry to break to you Kei but that's how it is. What, are you disappointed to know that your baby sister isn't as innocent as she seems?"
The words crashed into him immediately, cutting through him like a knife before shaking his head in utter denial. He must have missed something here. "This can't be right, I don't believe it.."
Yet the girl only giggled under her breath. "Better believe it Hawks. You should be thanking me, I even set up this little show just for you, how lucky, aren't you, getting my attention like this. Not many can do that..."
The hero couldn't help but widen his eyes at that, turning his head around only to realize that the thugs and strange men weren't going after them anymore.
He hadn't noticed it before but now they were all bowing, bowing in her direction.
It was too much for him to process, voicing the harsh reality. If Hikari knew about his betrayal from the beginning then that meant.. "Y-You set me up?"
Waving her hand away, the villain only smirked under her breath before circling around her brother like his was her next prey, eyes narrowed slightly. "Well of course, I wanted to see how long it would take for the number two hero to break, to see him utterly destroyed by his choices. And boy did you give me a show, thanks for that by the way.."
Hold on, Hikari planned all of this on purpose? All of her screaming, her crying, her hurtful words about loving him and trusting him, they were all fake? She was just trying to torture him, to make him hurt and break him down. It was disgusting, utterly disgusting.
And it sounded like something a villain would do.
That's when Shadow's words rang into him a moment later.
You see, it simply means that Valkyrie likely appears wherever you least expect it, whenever you are least prepared. Or at least that's what my intel tells me."
And he didn't quite get it at first but hearing those words again, they were so painfully true. Hikari was right under his nose the entire time, she had appeared when he least expected it, and Hawks had fallen for it all, every last bit of it.
He just wanted a normal life with a normal family, he just wanted his sister to be normal, to be safe. That's all he wanted for years. And when he had that small glimpse, the bird was blinded by all the lies and hope.
Thinking with a clear head everything seemed almost obvious now, but back then Hawks was just so happy to have his little sister back, to have any resemblance of normal that he ignored the warning signs and the danger.
Staring into her lazy stance, Hawks wondered what the hell had happened to her, what had caused her to act this kind of way because the little sister he knew was never this cynical or cruel.
What had happened when he wasn't around, what had changed her? Because looking at it now, he didn't even see his sister, just another villain.
Maybe that was it, maybe that's the reason why all of this was happening, maybe his sister really was dead and this was just some imposter using her name.
And that's what he wanted to believe because it hurt a whole lot less than the truth.
Forcing his voice to become even, Hawks then turned to a villain using his sister's name before speaking with serious intent, feather sword at the ready.
"You're not my sister, who are you?"
Hikari stopped then, her steps freezing at his cruel awful words before Hawks just barely saw her eyes fill with something more than the uncaring facade he had witnessed moments before.
Now they seemed deep and clouded, with a thousand unsaid emotions behind her once twisted lips, telling an untold story that he couldn't quite figure out.
If he had a word for it, it kind of looked like hurt.
But just as he saw it, he watched as Hikari sucked in a heavy breath before laughing bitterly at his words, finding humor in the accusation. "Not your sister? Ah yeah, I guess you're right Kei-chan. I haven't been your sister for awhile.."
Then her hands traveled towards the crystal pendant on her neck before closing her eyes for a split moment as she ripped off the clasp, and the suppression quirk that came with it.
And all at once, Hawks watched as two wings seemingly appeared from her back, spreading out wide as the grotesque and skeletal structure towered over him, his eyes widening in horror at the sight.
They were just like his, except for the various holes and gaps between the feathers, leaving only the broken outline of what should've been there. The red feathers ruffling with the breeze as the hero only counted about fifty objects resting there.
Giving a light flap, Hawks then saw the bat shaped outline bend with the motions, the remaining red objects clearly showing the holes and rips. They looked so painful.
It was like someone had ripped out large chunks of them by hand, given the size of the bare structure.
It was horrifying to say the least, Hawks taking a step backwards at the sight. He didn't know why, but they made him feel so terrified and small, like she could cut through him at any second.
Hikari had wings like this? No, that was impossible, she never had anything like this as kids. Their dad even called her useless for not having a quirk.
And why were they so deformed and broken? Was that just a product of her quirk or did something happen to her? It didn't make any sense to the bird because he knew firsthand that if he lost feathers then they would just grow back in the next couple days.
But these tears, these holes, they looked old and ancient, like nothing had been there for years.
Which meant that someone had purposely attacked her somehow.
Seeing him stunned into silence, Hikari chuckled under her breath, lifting her wings up even higher to make the hero invisibly shrink some more. "You still wanna believe I'm not your sister Keigo? Seems like shitty wings ran in the family."
His eyes couldn't help but be glued to the sight, a ring of terror echoing through his throat and the horrible thoughts in his mind. "H-Hikari...oh my god…..w-who did this to you..?"
At his fear, Hikari feathers gave an involuntary twitch before answering. "Why don't you ask those heroes you love so much? The ones that you bow down to with no questions asked and beg to like the dog you are.."
Her brother didn't fully understand though. Was she saying that heroes were responsible for her wings looking like that? But that didn't make any sense, hero's didn't hurt people, villains did.
Taking a step closer to her, Hawks couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion course through his throat. How long ago had this happened, and how come he didn't know anything about it? "W-Why didn't you tell me? I could've…"
Yet Hikari only cut him off. "You could've what? Saved the day, protected me? Get your head out of your ass Keigo, we both know you wouldn't have done shit. They've got you trained to be a good little soldier after all, to learn your place and never asked questions.."
The bird was at a loss for words though, shaking his head in denial. He didn't understand what she was saying. Did he really think he didn't care about her? That he wasn't completely broken up by her "death" for years?!
What bullshit, of course he cared, if only she had talked to him, if only he had known then he could have changed this. "What are you talking about Hikari if someone was hurting you then of course I would want to know..!"
Although his sister only scoffed, her wings lifting out in anger before a look of disgust crossed her face, laughing back bitterly. "How ironic, considering the one who hurt me the most was you, idiot."
And this caused Hawks to widen his eyes before feeling his heart drop into his stomach. Wait, what did she even mean by that? "H-Huh?"
Lowering her eyes, the blonde haired girl then spoke with hard malice. "I love how you throw around the bullshit that I should've just talked to you, considering I tried to do that for years and you never noticed, not even once."
Her wings gave an involuntary flap then, showing her true hurt and anger at their movements. "You wanna know the funny thing Kei, I did wait for you, I waited for years. I waited for you to care, I waited for you to finally love me and fulfill your promise, I waited until it practically killed me. But not once, not once did you notice. I suppose that's my fault, being the stupid little kid I was, waiting for my big brother to save me."
Shaking her head, the girl scoffed. "But then again, what can I expect from a hero? You wanna keep your squeaky clean reputation and I know it would hurt the great number two hero to be related to a murderer, right? So you just left me behind in order to fulfill your stupid make believe fantasy of wanted to be better than our father while I had to live as a Takami."
Throwing her arms into her pockets, Hikari then finished cynically, enjoying the horrid realization on her brother's face. "Well I hate to break it ya Keigo but it looks like you failed. Nah, you're just as much as a piece of shit as dear old dad was. I guess abandonment runs in the family, huh?"
And that was the sentence that made his entire world come crashing down. Hikari was waiting for him? He never even knew, he never even realized. He always thought she was just happily living her life in the orphanage like a normal girl.
The president told him that they had to stay apart for safety, to make sure she didn't get roped into all of this, but in doing that did he somehow hurt her without knowing?
The idea was too awful to think. He was always so hung up on his training that the bird didn't even think about what he had left behind, what he had unknowingly destroyed.
He didn't even know what to say, his mouth running dry. "I-I I-I'm sorry Hikari, I didn't know, I didn't realize you waited for me...I'm sorry…"
Nodding her head, Hikari didn't give him any mercy though. "Yeah you're right, you should be sorry. Because this, what you see here, it's all your fault Keigo. Every last bit of it. I hate you, I've always hated you big brother."
The girl then clapped her hands together in amusement for the lost look in Hawks' eyes. "And let me just say, I've been dreaming of this day for years, to see the sorry look on your face when you realized just how much you fucked up, just how much that little hero dream of yours really meant nothing. I gotta say, it's even better in person."
Hawks wanted to help her, he wanted to reassure her but he didn't even know how. His little sister was the thing that he was sworn to fight, the thing he was supposed to destroy. She was a villain, and yet the man didn't have the heart to move.
He had fucked up, further than he had ever thought possible and now he didn't know how to fix it, or what to even say at this point. "I-If you hated me, why did you come back..?"
The question brought a sense of reality into her throat before a familiar flash of purple and black entered her mind. Nah, she would save that for later. It would hurt far more if he saw it in person.
"Believe me, I didn't want to. In fact, if it was up to me you would have never even known I was alive. But I owed a friend a favor, and here we are…"
That brought a thousand waning bells into his mind. "A friend? What kind of friend?"
Yet Hikari only waved a hand in front of his face with a knowing smirk. "Don't worry, there will be time for that. Just know that someone really doesn't like ya Kei, you should watch out."
Almost as if to torture him, the girl then reached into her pocket before waving a small flash drive in his face, causing Hawks to widen his eyes. Was that, the files that she stole, the ones saying that he was a spy?!
The villain seemed to have read his mind though. "This would be dangerous in the wrong hands, don't you think? All of those secrets, gone like that. My, won't the commission be disappointed.."
Immediately reaching his hand out to grab the object, Hikari only snatched it away a second later before lifting it towards him mockingly. "Ah ah ah, I don't think so brother. If you want the files so bad then I guess you'll just have to take them from me."
Her words sounded like a challenge, causing Hawks' feathers to sharpen on command. The last thing he wanted was to fight his sister but needed to get those files. They were right in front of him, dancing in front of his face after all. He was so dangerously close.
Besides, if his sister really was a villain then that meant he had to stop her, that's what he would've done with any other villain in the world. He couldn't treat her any differently.
And because of that, Hawks narrowed his eyes towards his sister before pushing his hands into a fists, making his decision in a single second. "I'm sorry Hikari.."
Then he raced forward with his fist outstretched in a punch, fully expecting to knock the girl off of her feet just like had done a thousand times in their training.
Yet just when the fist was about to reach her face, Hawks' eyes widened at the sight before him, seeing his sister easily catch his punch and block the force, using her hands to firmly wrap around the surface with ease.
Wait, that was far different than what she had shown him before.
Revealing in his surprised expression, Hikari then chuckled under her breath before tightening her hand on his fist, her voice seemingly excited for finally being able to not hold back anymore.
"Oh, I've been waiting for this."
Then Hawks just barely had time before the villain narrowed her eyes with intent before throwing her brother's fist away and aiming her own towards his chest a second later.
Her reflexes, they were so much stronger than before, almost like she was faking her skills the entire time to catch her brother off guard for this fight.
And if that was the case, it was so underhanded and sneaky, causing Hawks to shake his head and block her hit a second later with a groan.
Even her power was stronger than before. "H-Hikari, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you back then but I'm here now. We can fix this, just give me the file!"
Smirking under her breath, Hikari then raced forward before gracefully dodging under one of his attacks before aiming her leg into his without a second thought. "Yeah sorry, not interested. I'd much rather see you burn."
Hawks groaned at the hit before quickly recovering, turning around before just barely missing her head as she ducked. "P-Please, come on baby sis, I don't wanna do this to ya, don't make me.."
Yet the girl only found amusement in his words, rolling her eyes. "Sure, because if you didn't want to do it, you would've stopped by now. Admit it, you can't stop, because those commission dogs have trained you real good. It doesn't matter if I'm your blood, you'd do anything for them wouldn't you?! So show me, show how far you'll go for them."
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Hawks then detached one of his feathers before sending it towards Hikari with heavy anxiety. He knew his emotions were high right now and if he hit her then it could cause serious damage but the bird didn't care.
Just like she said, he needed those files back.
Hikari didn't move though, she didn't even flinch at the sharp feather barreling towards her, almost like she expected it.
Instead, she only smiled.
And then just like that, Hawks watched as Hikari threw a feather of her own a moment later, the object matching the same speed as her brothers before the sheer force cut straight through his bristles like nothing before lodging itself into the hero's shoulder.
Gasping in fear, the hero looked down as she lifted a finger up towards the feather. "Sorry Hawks, you may have more feathers but mine are stronger…"
Then she twirled her fingers around before the feather forced itself further into Hawks' shoulder before cutting through clear bone and coming out on the other side bloody as the hero doubled over in pain.
What the hell? Her feathers were so strong, stronger than he had ever seen before, stronger than he could ever make this. How was the possible, it's like she cut through his entire bone without any sense of struggle.
Although that's when a clear realization crossed his face. His quirk was based on emotion, on thoughts and feelings, what if Hikari's was the same way?
And he prayed he wasn't right about that because if he was that meant in order for the girl to sharpen her feathers to that dangerous of a level, it meant that her feelings and emotions had to be equally dangerous.
As a kid he had tried his best to make his feathers that sharp but the most he could ever accomplish was a deep cut, and that was after hours of forcing himself to become trapped in his own mind, to hate himself past the point of no return.
If he was that destroyed after just a deep cut, then that meant that Hikari was doing far more, that her emotions were so dark, haywire and crazy that it was fueling her quirk into an extremely lethal state.
The power she had now, it was like she was screaming on the inside.
After that realization, Hawks paused his fight, the drops out blood from his shoulder falling onto the ground into a silent puddle as he took a shaky breath.
How hurt was she for her quirk to be this strong? "S-Stop this Hika-chan, your quirk, you're hurting, aren't you? P-Please, let me save you.."
And for a moment, Hikari stopped everything, her feathers twitching as the hero watched her expression change her so slightly into one that looked like surprise.
No one else knew the trigger for their quirks after all, no one else probably saw through her.
But even so, the change in demeanor lasted only a second, the girl laughing to herself bitterly. "There you go again with that hero complex of yours. You're too late Keigo, what's done is done. I gave up on you years ago."
Twisting his eyes at her hurtful words, Hawks replied. "B-But I'm here now."
Shaking her head in reply, Hikari's chuckles grew dark before muttering. "Like that matters, you're six years too late Keigo…"
Then before he could think, his sister quickly grabbed her only long feather from her wings before racing forward towards Hawks with clear intent, causing them to draw his own a second later.
The sound of two swords clanging together filled the space, both of the Takami's using their full strength to push against one another in order to beat the other sibling with determination in their eyes.
And now that Hawks saw her up close, he could truly see the dark and unfeeling gaze that held on him, a gaze filled with so much contempt and hated. It was so intense that the bird felt a shiver appear down his spine.
She really did hate him, didn't she?
Gritting his teeth, Hawks couldn't help but call back, realizing that he needed to stop his sister before she could do anymore damage.. "F-Fine, if it's that way then don't blame me for what comes next. Those files, I'm taking them back.."
Yet Hikari only rolled her eyes. "Mmm how cocky, Alright then, go ahead and try to pry them from my cold dead hands. I'd love to see it, how the great number two hero hurts his sister for a simple order."
Growling at her words, the bird felt all of his feathers stand on edge. "You know I don't want to do this, I don't want to hurt you. Stop saying that!"
Hikari didn't give him any room to breath though, pushing forward as the sword moved an inch. "Okay, then stop."
Widening his eyes at her straight forward words, Hawks felt himself falter, knowing that wasn't an option anymore, even if he so desperately wished it could be. "I-I...I can't"
Hikari only scoffed at that though, using even more of her strength to push the sword even closer to her brother. What did she expect? Once a commission dog, always a commission dog. "Exactly."
Feeling himself cave, the hero then used his wings to quickly jump away from the blade before it cut into him, his mind moving in a hundred different directions before lifting his sword out in a warning.
Although the girl didn't do the same, her eyes clouded over in some unknown emotion before sighing out a long heavy breath. It was obvious to tell both of them were getting nowhere.
And the look on her face mirrored that, almost like she was disappointed.
"This is just as fucking pointless as I thought it would be.."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Hikari then turned to her brother before putting her sword away. "Now this was fun but it's getting kind of boring. I can only hear your hero bullshit for so long after all. Don't worry though, I can assure you we'll meet again."
And just like that, the villain then turned on her heels, leaving Hawks absolutely shocked for what he was witnessing. She was just going to walk away just like that?! After everything, she was just going to ignore it?
No, he wasn't going to let her, he couldn't let her leave without that file, without fixing their relationship.
Running after her, Hawks felt his anxiety overflow as he shouted back to her, pleading for her to stay. "H-Hikari, w-wait..! Don't go, please don't go..I just got ya back. We can fix this, I know we can, just don't walk away from us..from me...I love you sis…"
Yet that's when the girl stopped dead in her tracks, her back facing him as he watched Hikari's shoulders cave just slightly. His words seemed to hit her somewhere, he just didn't know how.
But for Hikari, his words brought that small tiny bit of hope that he actually meant what he said, that he was going to accept her and finally save her from her own darkness. Maybe, just maybe her brother was still in there somewhere.
Although that's when he took the opportunity to call back again, his voice strained in clear desperation before saying the words that broke his little sister's heart unknowingly.
"L-Listen, we can talk about this. Just give me the file and then we can work this out."
The file.
The goddamn file, that's all it was. His previously "dead" sister had finally opened herself up to him just like he was asking for months and the only thing he cared about was getting that file back for the commission.
It didn't matter if she was silently begging for him to accept her and love, all he cared about was the mission, was that goddamn file. That's all he ever was, that's all he ever did.
He sold her for information, he had lied to her far too many times to count and now that she was standing in front of him for the first time, now that he was able to make amends, he wasn't even trying.
He was so bullshit, in every single way and Hikari was sick of it.
Feeling a wave of hurt work into her throat, Hikari then shook her head before shoving pain away and replacing it with a bitter laugh, taking the flash drive out of her pocket and lifting up to her brother's anxious eyes.
"Fine, this is what you want right? Well, go fetch."
Then she threw the little object as far as she could, silently hoping that Hawks would choose her over the commission, that he would try to make her stay instead of focusing his attention on that president bitches orders.
But then she watched as Hawks immediately turned his back to her, rushing to grab the file before it hit the ground, causing a whole new feeling of betrayal to cover her face while he wasn't looking.
And that proved it to her, he didn't care. And if he did care, it wasn't enough to choose her over the commission. The very people that destroyed her life, the ones that took her quirk, he was still willingly to follow them to death without a second thought.
Her brother, he really was gone, wasn't he?
Lowering her hand towards the ground, Hikari then lifted up her necklace before reconnecting the clasp, muttering something extremely low, something that she was sure her brother could hear through his feathers from across the room.
"My real brother disappeared years ago, just like me. The only I see now is a bootlicking commission dog, and I feel nothing for him."
His eyes couldn't help but widened at her words before whipping his head up to speak, only to find that his sister had completely disappeared from his sight while he was distracted.
Seeing that she was gone completely, Hawks then felt his own legs give out from underneath him before falling to the floor with an overwhelming feeling of hurt and devastation as tears appeared in his eyes.
Then he looked down at the little flash drive in his hand before noticing a small little note taped to the inside, the black letter mocking him all at once as he pulled it out.
Bet you thought this was what you wanted, didn't you?
Sorry, looks like you made the wrong choice Kei.
It was blank.
A look of realization crossed his face then, realizing that he had turned his back on his sister just for an empty flash drive. She had screwed him over in every possible way and now Hikari was free to give that information to absolutely anyone.
Fuck, he was so screwed.
Aggressively throwing the empty useless flash on the floor, Hawks then gritted his teeth before letting the tears spill from the corner of his eyes.
His sister, she really was gone, wasn't she?
All because of him.
Kicking down the door to the league's hangout, Hikari wordlessly walked into the room before moving past everyone without a single word, her aura causing everyone to stare at her as she went.
Although she didn't say anything, they all seemed to know not to mess with her, Dabi watching with lowered eyes as she headed up the stairs without so much as a hello.
And he knew exactly why.
Reaching Dabi's room, Hikari kicked open that door as well before stepping into the bathroom and scrubbing the fake blood off her body before finding one of her old black tank tops and jeans and throwing them on.
Sighing at her reflection in the mirror, the girl couldn't help but flash back to the big blow out with her brother, the anxiety causing her hands to unknowingly shake by her sides.
It wasn't that she was sick of his words, the truth was Hikari didn't know how much longer she could take them before she fell apart completely. His words, they were so fake and cruel in every single way.
Her brother had read her like a book after all. She was hurt, she was so incredibly hurt from just that mere interaction, from him accusing her of never being his sister.
Wow, she must've really looked like a monster for him to say something like that.
Letting her a forced shaky breath, Hikari then shoved down her emotions before shaking her head. She told herself time and time again that his words were fake, that they didn't mean shit.
But that didn't stop her from feeling utterly devastated all the same.
Sure the time they spent together was fake, but it was closest to any sense of normal she ever had in her life. And maybe that was pretty pathetic but everything in her life was fake, so what was the difference?
She knew exactly what the difference was though, she got attached.
Even though she tried not to, even though she knew that her brother wouldn't accept her villain ways and turn her away once he knew the truth, even then she still got attached.
Perhaps she was just an idiot after all.
That conversation with Keigo should have taught her everything she needed to know, everything she already knew. He was disgusted with her, to the point that he didn't even want to acknowledge her as his sister.
Laughing to herself bitterly, her little puffs of air started to turn into a sob before Hikari shut that down as well. Stupid little Hikari, stop it. It's not worth it. Don't break now. You were doing so well. You knew he wouldn't accept you.
Her words seemed to work because she felt the wave of emotion disappear a moment later before closing her eyes and turning around to exit the bathroom.
If she spent any more time in here she was sure she'd go insane.
Opening the door, Hikari than sighed before laying her eyes on a very familiar black haired villain sitting on the corner of the bed, almost as if he was waiting for her. "So, how did it go? I assume by your reaction it was really something..."
Yet the girl didn't have the energy to speak, only silently making her way to sit beside him as Dabi caught the utter despair reflected in her eyes, his own turning in interest wordlessly.
He noticed that she wasn't even looking at him, just lost in her own wandering thoughts as Dabi hummed with disinterest. It seemed like she was internally torturing herself about something, and that was something that the villain knew quite well.
She didn't even need to say anything for Dabi to understand how the talk with her brother went. He just knew her that well, enough to tell that she was shutting herself down in order not to break entirely.
That little bird shit must have really done a number on her to get her to this state.
And if anyone understood her pain, it was the villain himself, the man knowing just how dark someone's mind could spiral, just how hard it was to seemingly exist in this cruel awful world, especially with defects like them.
Pushing her arms around herself in a facade of fake comfort, Hikari unintentionally let out a tiny whimper before Dabi turned his head in her direction.
She was doing everything in her power not to break, wasn't she?
Dabi then lowered his eyes slightly before reaching his hand out and grabbing onto Hikari's cheek in order to forcibly turn her head towards him before feeling the girl practically melt into his touch, at the idea of comfort.
And that touch was enough for the villain to understand what she wanted, Dabi moving his face closer to hers before shifting his hand over to her lips and running a single finger over the surface.
Shivering at the touch, Hikari felt her eyes fill with tears without permission, the gentle touch pushing her even closer towards breaking.
That's when Dabi said five little words, the same five little words that caused her heart to stop in her chest, the same words that made her widen her eyes at the internal meaning they always held.
"Do you want to forget?"
Next chapter is gonna be NSFW just so you know. We are getting spicy. Also I already wrote that months ago so I'm gonna upload it right after this one. So if that's your cup of tea you can read it right away and if you don't like it then you can just skip it.
But oof of lots of hurt over here.
Hawks is an idiot cause Hikari just wants him to love her but he can't put anything over the commission (thanks to their brainwashing) and she knows that. That's really rough, having your big brother choose the people that tried to kill you over his own sister. Of course she's hurt. Poor girl, she just needs a hug.
Also it's important to know that both Hawks' and Hikari's quirk revolves around their emotions so the fact that her quirk is so strong is because she's so utterly destroyed on the inside that her feathers can cut through bone. Very depressing if you think about it.
Next Chapter: NSFW warning, this book is mature for a reason.