Hey! Wow my update times keep getting further and further apart. I'm sorry! I promise I don't mean to disappear like that. But hopefully some fun stuff in this chapter helps that. Some manga spoilers for Hawks' backstory thrown in here with a few creative liberties thrown in. I wanted to add some stuff from Chapter 352, but it didn't happen that way. Maybe later on down the road~. Thank you for sticking around and hello to our new followers and favorites!
"Remember the rules I gave you that first time I took you to see Dabi after Kamino?" Keigo remarks as they near the warehouse the villain gave him the address of. Leinei shrugs and pushes her hands into the front pocket of the black skull hoodie she's adopted to wearing each time they go to see him. Her face is passive, the corners of her lips twitching as her eyes appear glassy, as if she's fighting tears. Guilt twists her brother's stomach, seeing her like that and so reserved.
He stops just a few steps away from the door of the warehouse, Leinei stopping a step ahead of him before turning to face him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looks everywhere but her, feeling guiltier than ever with the way she's looking at him. His heart hurts, and his head spins. She should be allowed to be a kid. She should be allowed to focus on school and her friends. Not pick up our messes.
"Hawks," she says, snapping him out of his thoughts. Her lips have tilted up into a half smile of sorts, one that didn't quite reach her eyes, but still said enough. "You're a good brother. And an even better hero. Don't sit here acting like you're sending me to my death. Like you said, he just wants to talk, right?"
The words hit him harder than he thought they would, knocking the breath out of him as his vision blurs. He curses and uses his wrist to wipe his eyes, inhaling deep before laughing and tousling her hair. She grumbles under her breath and pushes his hand off, holding it towards him with her fingers loosely around his forearm.
"I know. I'm just now seeing how much you've grown," he remarks, watching her face flush. "And before we go in there, I just want to tell you how proud of you I am. The entire world's gonna know who Empathia is, and how great of a hero you're going to be. If they don't they're blind and deaf."
"Very funny. There's always going to be a better hero," she says, taking her hand away before turning towards the warehouse. "Come on, I've got to get some sleep before the festival tomorrow."
A feather slips off his wings, flying into the building before them. Keigo tilts his head, his sister waiting for the signal that it was clear before heading in. With the feather returning to its spot as he closes the door, Leinei calls for Dabi, her voice exasperated. The hero almost laughs, covering his mouth and feigning a yawn as the scarred man slips out of the shadows.
"Here I was thinking you'd be happier to see me alive and well," Dabi remarks to the student, his tone light and different compared to what Keigo was used to when talking to him. "You sound almost irritated, little mouse."
"Well considering I've got better stuff to do than to deal with you and your insecurities, yeah, just a little bit irritated," Leinei retorts, picking an imaginary piece of lint off her hoodie sleeve. "What do you want?"
"You hurt my feelings when you stopped coming to our weekly meetings."
"You murdered a man in front of me. You really expected me to keep going?" she scoffs, incredulous almost. "I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but you're a sick bastard for playing my emotions the way you did."
They're talking as if they're old friends, Keigo notes in his head, his hands in his coat pockets as he watches them from by the door. Neither have moved, a healthy space between them, and all he could see was his sister's back, but the growing smirk on the villain's face said a million things more than he would've thought.
"I'm just looking out for you," he replies cooly, stepping forward finally. "Besides, do you really want to be a hero after all that's happened? After what happened to Little ReiRei?"
"Don't-you don't get to call her that." Her words are harsh, low and threatening as Dabi chuckles.
"I'm just saying. What's to say something similar won't happen to you too?"
Keigo bristles at the not so subtle threat, ready to riddle holes in the man until Leinei puts her hand up. She looks over her shoulder at him, shaking her head as Dabi's eyes flicker between him and her. Calm picks at his body, numbing the adrenaline starting to pick up in his veins and slow his heart. He feels almost tired as he relaxes, seeing her eyes are purple before fading back to blue. She used her quirk on me-
"That's some incredible control you've got all of a sudden."
"Believe it or not, my school does teach me things," she retorts, looking back at Dabi. "But practice makes perfect and all that." She lowers her hand and tilts her head as she studies the man. "You wanted to talk. Then talk. If not, I'm going back to my dorm. I have an essay due on Monday."
"The mouse keeps growing claws," he remarks, but shrugs. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You've never been the best at coping with your emotions."
"Haha. So many people cracking so many jokes to the girl with the empathy quirk. This was a waste of time. Hawks, we can go-"
"We're still looking to recruit for the League," Dabi says, cutting her off as her eyes darken. Keigo crosses his arms over his chest, eyes closed as he lets them talk, listening carefully to their words. "We lost one before the Hassaikai raid. Overhaul was a bastard, in case you weren't aware."
"I was. I'm sorry you lost a friend," she replies. "Doesn't mean you get to take it out on my family."
"You act like her death bugs me," he retorts, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Merely a means to an end. Just sucks we're a person down. Feather Brain over there wants to fill it, but I don't quite trust him."
"And you trust me?" she scoffs in disbelief. She walks up to him, still standing a few inches shorter than him as she pokes a finger into his chest. He raises an eyebrow at her. "The only thing stopping me from turning you into the police is the fact I want to kill you myself. The only thing stopping me from killing you is the fact I actually like my life the way it is now, minus everything you've done to ruin it."
"There's that fire I've been waiting for," he murmurs to himself, the corner of his lips tugging into a smirk. "I know that despite those two 'facts' as you call them, you wouldn't. Because the fact remains you're still keeping that little promise to me not to tattle to my family," he adds in a low whisper, his eyes flickering over to Keigo. "So you're still loyal to me, or what you think remains of him. Either way, you're an asset. One I'd like on our side. So this is my formal invitation: Join the League of Villains." He leans down by her ear. "You'd flourish so much more with us than you would staying at UA and with the heroes. You know this. Your quirk isn't suited for saving people, and you know it. You've watched it. You've seen the damage you can do."
Her mouth goes dry, her throat tightening as she takes a step back. He stands straight and nods his head towards her brother. Keigo cracks one eye open, watching them as Leinei shoves her hands back into her hoodie pocket. She turns away from Dabi, walking towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I'll think about your offer," she says in a steady empty voice. "I've got things to do. Hawks?"
"See ya later, Dabi," Keigo grunts as he stands up, flicking two fingers off his forehead. "I'll let ya know her answer."
Leinei doesn't wait for Dabi to say anything before opening the door to the warehouse and walking out. Keigo follows her, his hands in his pockets as they walk silently away from the warehouse and towards the train station. He doesn't know what to say to her as they pay for their tickets and wait for the train to take her back to UA.
"I know I have to do it," she says after a few minutes of waiting, staring down at her feet. "It's better to make him sweat about it than to make him suspicious by agreeing immediately."
"I get it," he assures her, nudging her with his wing. "Smart move. You did good. Better than I thought you would. But you've always surprised me so this shouldn't be any different."
"Yeah. I know."
"You okay after that? You guys talk like you're old friends. Or at least that's the way it seemed."
"It's nothing. He just reminds me of someone I used to know. Before the accident," she says in a sullen voice as the train pulls up. The doors open and they step on, Leinei taking one of the seats by the door as Keigo stands. He holds one of the straps dangling above them, wrapping it around his arm as they wait for the doors to close. Unsurprisingly, no one else climbs onto the train car with them, giving them the space to themselves.
The train jerks before starting down the tracks, the silence still uncomfortable between the siblings. Keigo glances at her as she types out a text to someone on her phone, most likely Katsuki to let him know they were on their way back. He scratches the back of his neck.
"You and Bakugo have gotten really close," he remarks.
"He's my boyfriend, I'd hope so," she retorts, locking her phone and setting it on her lap. "What are you getting at, Kei? What are you wanting to say?"
"..." He sighs and shakes his head, tilting it back and closing his eyes. "When I was a kid, before the Commission took me in, my parents were pretty shitty. Dad was abusive and a criminal-killed a guy and that's what got him on the heroes' radar. Mom helped him and barely paid attention to what he did to me. He had the same wings I do, and yet cursed me for being born with them."
He glances over at her, seeing her staring at the floor in front of him. She's quiet, listening intently to his story as he rocks back and forth on his heels for a moment. He closes his eyes and rests his head against his stretched out arm.
"Dad got arrested one day. By Endeavor," he adds, cracking one eye as she looks up at him. "I didn't think heroes existed outside of the tv until then, but my mom took off with me when Dad got busted. Expected me to start making money for them again the way he did. Not too long after that, the Commission found me. I'd saved a bunch of people from a bad accident, just like I did you and Reina," he continues, chuckling as he takes his hand down from the strap and sits next to his sister. She pulls one of her feet up to rest on the opposite knee, waiting for the rest of the story.
"What I think I'm trying to say is," he says, bouncing his knee a bit. "You are a lot more than your past. Because you aren't the same person you were at Shiketsu. You aren't the same person when you started at UA. You aren't even the same person you were yesterday," he continues, reaching over and tousling her hair. She doesn't stop him, using the heel of her hand to wipe her eyes. "Because if we were our past, I'd probably be in jail with my dad right now. Or hiding in some rat hole with my mom."
"How come I've never heard this speech before?" she asks in a soft voice, leaning forward to look her brother in the face. "I never knew any of that-"
"It's not something I like people knowing," he admits. "Hell, the Commission wiped my records so it's nearly impossible to trace me back to my parents."
"Are they still alive..?"
"Yeah. My dad is in some small-time jail, my mom is in a nice house a few cities over," he replies, smiling as he nudges her. "I go see them every once in a while. I mean, my mom mostly. I stopped seeing my dad after he told me to fuck off, but my mom is kinda happy to see me sometimes. Visits are always awkward as hell though. I barely stay more than twenty minutes, just long enough to make sure she's okay and doesn't need anything."
She nods and nudges him with her elbow. He nudges her back, only for her to return it again. Instead of reciprocating once more, he wraps his arm around her and sets his chin on her head.
"They may be my blood, but you're my family," he murmurs. "I didn't have a say in who I was born to, but I have a say in who I see as my parents and my siblings. They stopped being my parents' beyond names and titles a long time ago, but you'll always be my sister."