Thank you for all the wonderful comments! I'm glad you all seem as excited as I am for this - I'm dying for a canon Hawks v Tokoyami, so for now I'll have to write it myself! If you want a soundtrack for this chapter, listen to "Brothers in Arms" from Mad Max: Fury Road.
WARNING: This chapter contains graphic depictions of violence.
Chapter 19: A Room with Many Shadows
The gymnasium's large windows let in just enough light for Hawks to watch in horror as Tokoyami is enveloped by a maelstrom of shadows. He knew the League would wait until the worst possible moment to reveal the true extent of his involvement in Tokoyami's kidnapping. He should have controlled the situation by being honest with Tokoyami from the beginning. He took the coward's way out instead, and now he has no one to blame but himself.
A shift in the air breaks Hawks from his stupor. He takes off seconds before a massive claw destroys the floorboards he'd been standing on. He grits his teeth and plucks two of his longest feathers; there's nothing he can do to change the past. He has to concentrate on what is happening here and now. If he dies, so be it. But if he dies and leaves Tokoyami to face the mad doctor alone, there will be no hell deep enough to contain his guilt.
Resigning himself to a fight does not mean Hawks has given up all hope of reaching Tokoyami, however. He darts around Dark Shadow's claws and tries to get closer to his open mouth, where Hawks can just make out the form of Tokoyami's true body.
"Tsukoyomi!" Hawks yells. He crosses his swords to shield himself from another blow, and the force of it sends painful tremors down his arms. He grits his teeth and lets himself drop a few feet, his swords scraping against semi-solid shadows without doing much damage. He has no chance of injuring Dark Shadow like this; he's going to have to rely on his speed to win. A month ago he never would have doubted his stamina, but weeks of confinement and constant blood draws have taken their toll.
Even if his speed holds out, Hawks has no means to make light and exploit Dark Shadow's weakness. That means there are only two ways he's going to win this fight: he needs to convince Tokoyami to call off his quirk or strike him through. Either way, he has to reach Tokoyami, who remains suspended in the relative safety of Dark Shadow's mouth.
Hawks darts between shadows, each strike just seconds behind him. For such a large creature, Dark Shadow certainly moves quickly. Hawks is kind of proud despite the fact that the quirk is trying to kill him.
"Tsukuyomi, please!" he yells again. "We don't have to fight!"
"SILENCE!" Dark Shadow bellows. "We are done with your lies."
"I'm not lying, I swear! Just slow down and I'll tell you everything!" Hawks shouts. He ducks under Dark Shadow's claws, only to run straight into a shadowy tendril that smacks him into the opposite wall. The blow knocks the wind out of him but there is no time to recover. He manages a single lung full of air before he's forced to take off again, narrowly avoiding another hit as Dark Shadow's claws rake across the wall.
At least the gym has high ceilings. Hawks manages to get above Dark Shadow – not truly out of his reach, but high enough that Dark Shadow is forced to look up. Hawks hovers directly above him for a moment; he needs to time this precisely.
"Tokoyami, listen to me!"
The moment Dark Shadow opens his jaws to roar, Hawks flattens his wings against his back and dives. He makes it inside just before the massive beak snaps shut. Dark Shadow's mouth feels like the inside of a cave: cool and quiet, with the barest sense of air rustling his feathers. It's so dark that Hawks is as good as blind. He wonders what, if anything, Tokoyami can see from here. Does he share Dark Shadow's eyes now, as the quirk sometimes shares his?
The dark doesn't bother Hawks. He's used to relying on his feathers to sense his surroundings. He can pinpoint Tokoyami's location by the angle of the air, the sound of his breath, and the heat of his body.
"Tokoyami," he calls, stretching out his hand until he feels warm skin instead of tingling shadow. "C'mon, kid, tell me you're still in there!"
"Get OUT!"
Shafts of dim light just barely illuminate Tokoyami's face as both he and Dark Shadow speak. The words echo and shudder around them like an earthquake, and Hawks only keeps his footing by clinging to Tokoyami.
"I know you're angry with me. You have every right to be. You can hate me if you want to, and you can refuse to forgive me for the rest of your life. I deserve it. But you don't. You never deserved any part of this. So please, please listen to me. Stop fighting. I've seen the thing they want us to become, and I refuse to let that be your fate," says Hawks.
"Liar, traitor! Can't trust you, can't trust anyone! There's only us."
That's definitely Dark Shadow doing the talking, but he knows Tokoyami is listening. He can feel him move independently, pushing against his arm. Hawks pushes back. "What about your family, your friends?"
"They left us to die."
"And you sacrificed everything to save them anyway! Come on, Tokoyami! We both know you're so much stronger than this." He shakes Tokoyami gently in an effort to draw him closer to awareness.
"And now they're DEAD!"
Dark Shadow's shaking is not so gentle in return. He opens his beak wide and swings his head from side to side. Hawks loses his grip on Tokoyami and is flung out of the shadow's mouth. His wings catch the air before he hits anything, but the movement leaves him disoriented. He blinks to clear the spots from his vision, yet one remains: a speck of silver falling from Dark Shadow.
The beast lunges for him again, and Hawks dives down under a blow that cracks the bleachers. He skims over the floor, raptor vision zoning in on a silver tube that rolls across the wood. He snatches it up, feeling cool, smooth metal beneath his fingers. It's a flashlight; he's seen Tokoyami fidget with it when he's anxious or scared. The shaking must have dislodged it from his pocket.
Hawks clicks the light on and aims it at Dark Shadow's face. The beam is small but bright, and Dark Shadow shrinks away from it, losing some of his height. Then Hawks' feathers prickle in warning, and he realizes he's backed himself into a corner with no room to take off. Dark Shadow slams him to the ground and pins him there, the talons of his other hand poised to strike.
Hawks curses; of course the flashlight didn't work. Dark Shadow has been building his tolerance for weeks, and the room is only getting darker as the sun sets outside. Hawks twists in the quirk's grip, trying to squirm his way free. The beam of the flashlight shifts across Dark Shadow's beak and briefly illuminates Tokoyami's face. His eyes are blank and the feathers at the base of his head bristle out in an expression of bitter avian rage.
Regret and guilt weigh heavier on Hawks' chest than Dark Shadow's claws. He cannot reach Tokoyami like this, and he's out of time. He takes a breath to steady himself and aims one razor-sharp feather, too small and quick for Dark Shadow to notice. It will be over before Tokoyami feels any pain.
"Liar. Traitor. Murderer!"Dark Shadow snarls.
"I'm sorry, Tsukuyomi," Hawks shouts in return. "I'm so sorry!"
Dark Shadow's talons descend, and Hawks' feather tears through the air between them. He keeps his eyes on Tokoyami. The boy is afraid of dying alone, so Hawks will stay with him no matter how much he wants to turn away from what he's done.
It's the only reason he catches the fraction of a second when Tokoyami blinks, his expression shifting from hatred to horror.
"Dark Shadow, STOP!"
Dark Shadow lurches sideways and Hawks yanks on his feather. It's too late to stop it; he can only shift the trajectory. Dark Shadow's talons crush Hawks' arm instead of his face, but Hawks barely registers the snap of his bones. It's nothing compared to the sight of his feather sinking into Tokoyami less than an inch below his heart.
Dark Shadow shrieks. "Fumikage!"
Tokoyami clutches at his chest, eyes wide with shock. He doesn't seem to be able to process what's happened, and his control of Dark Shadow is rapidly slipping away again. Thick bands of darkness wrap around him until he is entirely obscured from Hawks' sight.
"You've hurt him. You've hurt my Fumi. I'll KILL YOU!" Dark Shadow bellows. His body grows to fill the entire height of the gym. Hawks swears and wriggles his way free from the shadow's loosened claws, one arm hanging uselessly at his side. He needs to move, he needs a plan, but he can't think beyond his failures, manifested in front of him as a gigantic crow.
Dark Shadow lets out an almighty roar that shatters what remains of the windows. Hawks ducks away from the glass. As he does, he notices a light on the other side of the gym, reflected in shards of one-way glass as they fall from their framing. There's a commentator's box above the bleachers, and most of the League are within. He thought they'd be watching from a security feed; he should have known they'd want to see the fight up close. Hawks almost smiles. It looks like there is a way to keep his promise after all. He will not abandon Tokoyami to Ujiko's madness.
He circles around Dark Shadow and briefly lands on top of the basketball hoop. "Hey, shadow man! Follow me."
Dark Shadow screeches and sends the whole structure crashing to the floor just as Hawks leaps away. He swerves and dives, keeping his movements as unpredictable as possible. A set of claws still catch his leg and nearly send him off-course. Adrenaline is the only thing that keeps him flying, but he can't keep this up forever. He's got to make his next move count.
Hawks flaps his wings hard to get ahead of the shadows, then hovers in front of the bleachers like he's trying to catch his breath. "Hey, Tsukuyomi!"
"DIE, TRAITOR!" Dark Shadow roars.
"That's alright. You hear me, Tsukuyomi? It's alright. You can kill me, and then you can let go. Just do me one favor – help me take these assholes with us!"
With that, Hawks flies straight for the commentator's box, every last one of his feathers racing towards the League. As far as final views go, he thinks the expression of actual fear on Shigaraki's face is a pretty good one. He releases his feathers just as Dark Shadow's claws slam him into the commentator's box. The last thing he registers is a bright blue light.