so I want to start off this chapter by apologizing to anyone who is following this story as I am going through a breakup of my seven-year relationship and therefore struggling to write quite a bit. I have about five chapters written currently going up into the Deika City ark but I have hit a little bit of a snag in progressing the plot from there I am doing my best and will work hard to get it all posted up. thank you for reading this far into the story and I am sorry for any wait I am going to try and write as much as I can!
The next few weeks felt like the longest of her life, there were a lot of documents to sign and people to meet. She was told she'd be working at Jaku hospital, she was to go straight there and straight home every day. Her supervisors were made aware of her quirk and its limitations, the fact that if she overused it she'd need a transfusion. She had begun working and tried her best to avoid Keigo whenever possible and she had been mostly successful, only seeing him a few times when she got home but he was leaving her be, for which she was thankful. Work was hard but worth it, she mostly helped with those recovering from surgery who needed to be back to work quickly. Occasionally people who were in bad accidents and needed to be healed. It wasn't too different from the times she'd healed for different mafias and gangs when she was working with Dabi. Though this line of work was far less scary for sure. "Ayanami, your assistance has been requested by Doctor Garaki." Raye looked up at her supervising nurse is surprise but nodded and followed the older woman to the Doctor. "Ah, thank you very much nurse. I will return her as soon as I am done." The nurse nodded and made her way away from the two, Raye felt nervous. It wasn't often Doctors requested her directly and she had to worry she had messed up somehow. "Please follow me." She gave a nod and followed the doctor to a small office, he sat at a desk and Raye sat across from him fidgeting nervously. "So it's my understanding you used to work with the League, is that correct?" Her stomach was in absolute knots now, she didn't know how he knew that but it couldn't possibly be anything good. "Yes I did." She said and he nodded thoughtfully and he made to rummage through a drawer pulling out a small cellphone. "I thought so, I was asked to be an intermediary by my master for you and the League. He chose not to transport you along with your friends for his own reasons. I do apologize it's taken me so long to get into contact with you." Raye was stunned, this Doctor worked with the League or rather with All for One? "Now I was specifically told that while Tomura Shigaraki considers you a valuable asset to his cause you much like myself need to stick to the shadows. That order came down directly from All For One. Do you understand?" Dr.Garaki asked and Raye nodded dumbly, she really didn't understand but clearly there were higher powers at work here that she wasn't about to question. "What's the phone for?" She asked and the Doctor opened it for her, showing her the contacts. "This is for contact with members of the League only. My master understood that you and one of the members were…in a level of relationship long before you joined the League and from the information I have managed to gather he has been rather uncooperative since your removal from the group." Raye felt her heart thump uncomfortably against the ribs, as she took the phone from him, she was going to be able to talk to Dabi. It felt like it had been so long since she'd heard his voice, she hadn't known what had happened to him, just that none of the League had been taken into custody. "Now what I need you to do is initiate contact with him and explain the situation. I myself am sticking to the shadows for now, so I would prefer if you mention me as little as possible." She again nodded, she could hardly contain herself she wanted to call him right now. "Now I'm going to get back to my own work, I would advise you to make that call now and get back to work afterwards. Should I need you for anything further I will be in contact." With that Dr.Garaki left the office and Raye with shaking hands called Dabis' phone. "Who the fuck is this?!" He yelled as he answered and Raye pulled the phone away from her head a bit. "You know that's a really funny way of saying I missed you." She joked and there was a beat of silence on the other line. "Little Mouse? Where the fuck have you been?! Are you ok?" He sounded both relieved and panicked at the same time, it was actually kinda cute. "I'm totally fine, I got caught up when the hotel collapsed but I'm working at a hospital now. The HPSC didn't send me to jail or anything apparently my mother paid them not to. But I was given this phone by someone on our side and was told I needed to stay in the shadows and that it was a direct order from All for One." She heard him take a breath and she had to wonder how he'd been. "Well fuck, I've been a second away from burning entire towns to come find you, but these fucking assholes won't let me." Raye laughed at that feeling tears pricking at her eyes, she would expect nothing less from him but she was glad the others had stopped him. "I appreciate that but I'm glad you didn't. I missed you so much, are you ok?" Her voice wavered slightly, feeling on the verge of tears, she hadn't realized how much she missed Dabi until she heard his voice, her free hand was gripping the chair she sat in so hard her knuckles were white. "Of course I'm ok I've just been worried about you little mouse." She was glad to hear he was ok but she felt bad she had worried him, she'd had no way to get in contact with him seeing as her phone had been caught in the hotel collapse and the HPSC hadn't trusted her with one. "Well I'm totally fine so stop worrying ok? I'm living back at my old apartment and I'm under strict orders to only go to work and home straight from there unless I'm supervised so it's probably going to be hard for us to see each other." It hurt to have to say that, she wanted to see him so badly she wanted to hold him. "Yeah well eventually I'll try and get Kurogiri to warp me over there. Even if it's only for a little while." She felt a bit of relief at hearing those words, she had entirely forgotten Kurogiri could just warp him in and out of her place as long as he had the coordinates for it. "I would really appreciate that, I gotta go for now. I'm still at work ok? But I miss you so much and can't wait til I can see you." She felt the tears starting to fall and wiped her face quickly, she still had a job to do. "I'll be there as soon as I can, little mouse, stop crying." She gave a soft mhm and Raye hung up the phone, feeling far better for having been able to talk to him, if not a bit sad. Leaving the office and making her way back to the floor, as much as she still couldn't see Dabi for what would probably be awhile she could eventually see him and that was what mattered.
A few weeks passed between their call and she didn't hear from him again which left her feeling a bit depressed but she and Keigo had begun talking again…sort of. He'd been leaving little sticky notes on her door. Today though after she'd finished her shift and made her way home she was surprised to see a fast food bag outside her apartment door with the note. She picked it up to inspect it curiously. 'Figured since you can't go get this yourself I'd get it for you.'Raye had to wonder when he'd had the time to drop this off, as far as she knew he was still working and would be for a while yet. 'Did he seriously stop home just to leave me food?' Apparently he was still very serious about taking care of her. She made her way inside and put the food on the counter, grabbing a sticky note and she wrote him a quick thank you note back. 'Thanks for the food, but you didn't have to. When the hell did you find the time anyways?' Raye went back out to the hall and stuck it to his door, she hoped he would see it since he usually came in through the balcony. Making her way back inside she took out the bounty of WcDonald's she had been blessed with. Of course it was chicken nuggets and fries, though she could tell he'd stolen a few nuggets for himself from the box. 'Forever a glutton I guess.' she thought as she made her way to sit on the bed and enjoy the food, it was still warm too he had to have just dropped it off minutes before she walked in the door. 'Kinda weird he knows my schedule…the HPSC probably gives it to him so he can keep an eye on me.' she happily ate her food, it felt so weird still to be back here. Living her old life and now moonlighting for the League, whenever they finally decided they needed her. When she was done she laid back in her bed, she felt exhausted work had been taking a lot out of her she wasn't used to getting up so early in the day still. After she got out of work at four she usually had a few hours to do whatever until she was asleep by eight to do it all again. Though the three hours felt incredibly long considering she couldn't leave her apartment. She made her way over to her closet grabbing her pajamas and changing out of her work clothes. She knew she should take a shower but she was far too exhausted for all that effort right now. Climbing back into bed she was unconscious in a matter of minutes.
When she got ready to leave for work she was surprised to find a note on her door. 'I'll always find a way to make time for you chicky, maybe I'll drop off some more food today.' there was a little poorly drawn little chicken on the note and she couldn't help but to smile the littlest bit. He was such a terrible artist even when they were kids but it was cute regardless. She tucked the note into her pocket and went back inside to write him another note, apparently this is how they were communicating now. 'As much as I appreciate it you really don't have to. You aren't going to win me over with food you know? Also Chicky? PS your drawings are still awful.' She stuck it to his door with a smile and made her way to work, despite her feelings towards him being more than a bit muddled she was happy they had finally been talking again even if it was just through notes left on each other's doors.
The day at work was uneventful but long, Raye once again arrived home to a bag of food with a note on it. 'I know I don't have to but I want to because I love you. And I might not but it's at least a start and yes Chicky, it's cute do you not like it? Also I did a really good job on that chicken you're very rude.' She smiled a little bit and once again brought the bag of food into her apartment and wrote a note back to him. 'Well I appreciate it regardless of the reason why. I never said I didn't like it. And nah dude that chicken was begging to be put out of its misery' she stuck the note to his door and began eating her food.
About halfway through eating it there was a knock at her door. "Hold on!" She called out her mouth still full of nugget, she closed the box and made her way to the door. Her mother stood on the other side and Raye felt like her heart stopped. Her mother was much older than the last time she saw her, there were creases around her eyes, but she looked exactly the same as Raye remembered otherwise, still maintaining a bit of her Russian accent as well. Long blonde hair, blue eyes just like hers, and a bit shorter than Raye herself. "Hey sweetie, it's been a long time." She said and she gave Raye a hug which took her more than a second to return, she was still in shock. "What're you doing here mom?" She asked when her mother pulled away from the hug, she looked like she was ready to cry. "I wanted to see you dear, your father's waiting in the car so I don't have very long." Ice filled Rayes veins, her dad had brought her mother here? She had to wonder why he had done such a thing or what her mother had done to get him to. "I heard about what happened, you joined a gang of villains, I was so surprised. The HPSC gave me regular updates on you and your progress. I would have never expected that from you, especially when you seemed to be doing so well." Raye was struck entirely dumb, they'd been reporting her progress to her mom this whole time. "You're so grown up now, you've grown into a beautiful woman, my little ray of sunshine." God it had been a long time since she'd heard that nickname, her stomach was in utter knots, her mother was the same as she'd always been, she even wore the same perfume. "I wasn't doing as well as they thought mom, there's some things that just never heal and my fear of being locked up in a cement box is one of them." Hurt flashed across her mother's face and she reached out to pat her daughter's arm. "I know sweetheart that's why I did what I did. When they told me what happened I told them they'd made an error that they needed to correct. Luckily we have enough financial influence to make that happen. Your father wasn't very happy about it but I managed to win him over." Raye could only imagine how she'd done about doing that, knowing her mother she'd enlisted Yuukis help which made her stomach churn uncomfortably. "You really didn't have to mom, I appreciate it but you didn't have to." It almost kind of hurt that she did, where was this protective mother when she was a child? "Mila! I told you to be brief!" Raye froze, she had been unprepared but happy to see her mother…her father on the other hand she never wanted to see again. "I know Shu but I haven't seen her in so long just go wait in the car I promise I won't be much longer." Shu Ayanami made his way down the hall towards them, his black hair had a bit of salt and pepper in it now, his brown eyes were hard and unforgiving, and he was just as tall and imposing as she had remembered him to be despite her being an adult now. Raye wanted to run away, to slam the door, but she didn't; she just stood there frozen. "I allowed you to come here Mila but only on the grounds of seeing that she was well. She is now let's go." The way her father looked at her showed a level of disgust Raye hadn't seen in a long time. "Please just a few more minutes, she's our child." Her mother pleaded with him and he made a disgusted noise. "That girl is no child of mine." Her mother and father began to argue back and forth for a moment and finally Raye had enough. "Enough! If she wants to stay and talk, let her! You may not like it but I am your daughter! You can't change the blood that's in our veins anymore than I can! Trust me I wish I could!" The look in her father's eyes told her she made a huge mistake and he stepped towards her threateningly. "You will show respect! You are as you always have been a spoiled undignified child! I will not be spoken to in that way by you! You're lucky to have gotten any charity from our family at all and it was only due to your mother's insistence that you were helped at all!" Her anger bubbled violently and she clutched the door frame in her hand, she wouldn't make the same mistake she had with Yuuki but she wasn't going to take it either. "I see no one in front of me to respect other than mom! I will speak to you anyway I damn well please. I'm an adult now, not a scared little kid! I didn't ask for your help or hers! I'm sorry that she felt guilty enough about all the fucking shit you and Yuuki put me through! Honestly she shouldn't, you should but you as always are a cold unapologetic, unfeeling cunt! Fuck yourself!" She felt years of seething hatred seeping out of her and her father raised his hand to slap her. "You little fucking brat!" Raye closed her eyes and braced for impact but it never came. "Unhand me immediately!" Raye risked opening her eyes and to her surprise Keigo was there holding her father's suit jacket sleeve between his fingers in order to prevent the slap that had been about to land across Rayes face. "Absolutely sir, but I am going to have to ask you to leave, otherwise I will have to alert the authorities to an assault at this residence." Her father sputtered out a few choice words but grabbed her mother by the arm and began walking away, clearly furious. "I love you dear, please stay safe!" Her father silenced her mother immediately and as soon as they had come they were gone. "You ok chicky?" Raye couldn't respond, the anger and seething hatred she had felt for her father evaporated just as suddenly and she released her death grip on the door frame. She slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. Her whole body was shaking and she was trying to connect herself back with reality, it had been a long time since she'd had a PTSD induced flashback. Luckily for her Keigo knew exactly what was happening, he'd gotten her through a lot of these flashbacks when they were kids. "Hey you're alright Chicky I got you." He scooped her right up and carried her into his apartment.