A/N: Hello! I have missed you all! I am sorry that it has been a while since this story was updated. I went on vacation, got sick, and have had a lot of technical difficulties. I'm glad I have a friend who can post for both of us when I can't. Thank you, Bakusatsuo for being amazing and writing so many funny things with me. You are such a great writer! I think I should be back to normal-ish writing. Ashes is reaching the climax soon. I'm not sure how many chapters will be left but we are getting to the end. Thank you all for reading, commenting, and being so patient as I write this. Chapter 30 will come out soon.

Love you all,

Traditional Twist

Chapter 29

Hawks watched as Fumikage's body fell limp. A rage filled him like one he had never felt. His wings expanded, and with a giant beat, flew at the villain faster than he had ever moved before. The cameras could only capture the blurs.

Moonfish removed his teeth from the several puncture wounds from Fumikage's body. The villain contorted himself to face the winged hero. Blades shot out towards Hawks who avoided them by diving in a barrel roll.

Hawks slashed at the steel teeth with his feather swords but was quickly surrounded by more teeth blades. He sent out more feathers to combat the blades. Moonfish was wild and lacked any care for any civilians on the sidelines. More red feathers left Hawks' wings as they swooped down to the innocent bystanders.

"I need back up," Hawks thought. "Where the hell is Endeavor when you need him?"

Suddenly a large pair of black claws smacked on either side of Moonfish, Breaking the blades he stood on. The villain moaned in pain and flopped to the ground. Hawks took this time to strike, smacking Moonfish in the head, guaranteeing he was unconscious.

Hawks looked up just in time to see the Claws disappear in Fumikage's chest, his head tilted up. The teen faintly smiled, before his head completely smacked against the ground.

"Tsukuyomi!" Hawks rushed over to the teen. He was bleeding. There was a deep cut in his leg, and shoulders. Hawks pulled out his first aid kit as he heard sirens closing in. "Hang in there, kid. I can't lose you."

Fumikage's head hurt. Actually, most of Fumikage's body hurt. He knew he was no longer in the street. The last thing he remembered was waking up, unable to move, but seeing that Hawks needed assistance. He called Dark Shadow, watch Moonfish fall, and then collapsed. Now, conscious again, he could tell he was in a bed. There was some sort of blanket on him, and he felt a heavy weight next to his right leg.

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open to see he was in the hospital. Down by his leg he saw a masked teen with white hair resting on his folded arms. Fumikage moved his right leg slightly, gently nudging the larger teen. "Shoji?"

Shoji sat up and turned towards his boyfriend. "Fumikage!" A tentacle eye and mouth moved towards the bird-headed teen. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts," Fumikage answered. My leg and shoulder hurt as well." He tried to sit up, but one of Shoji's hands gently held him at bay.

"Please stay down. You took a lot of damage." The hand gently ran its fingers through the other's black feathers. Fumikage hummed and relaxed at the touch. He closed his eyes as his partner silently continued his motion. He only opened his eyes when heard Shoji mumble, "I was really worried."

Red eyes opened and stared into concerned onyx eyes. "You were bleeding out."

"Moonfish has very sharp teeth," Fumikage said with a smirk.

"I know from firsthand how sharp his teeth are," Shoji said holding up a tentacle.

Fumikage reached for the tentacle with his hand and gently grasped it. He stared at the larger teen for a few moments. Both aware they were each remembering their experience in the summer camp. Shoji's arm flinched and Fumikage pulled away.

"Where is Hawks?" Fumikage asked. "Did Moonfish get him as well?"

Shoji shook his head. "You and Dark Shadow really saved Hawks back there. He was let out with minor scrapes and has been talking with authorities since. I told him I would stay with you so you would not be alone."

"I appreciate that."

Shoji's hand wrapped around Fumikage and squeezed it tightly. "We were both really worried. Hawks especially."

Fumikage's mouth opened slightly. "I'm… surprised. I would have thought he'd have been more focused on everything else."

"You were his only concern," Shoji explained. "He was so close to you when the medics arrived. He looked so shaken when you lost consciousness."

"I didn't mean to worry him," Fumikage explained.

"I'm sure you also didn't mean to get impaled seven time," Shoji chided.

"True."

A minute of silence passed. The only noise came from the two boys rubbing their thumbs against each other's hand. Shoji squeezed one more time. "Would you like me to go find Hawks."

Fumikage's red eyes grew wide with curiosity. "Would you be willing to?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't."

Fumikage smiled and nodded his head gently. "I think it would be good if we saw each other."

Shoji smiled, kissed the back of his boyfriend's hand before leaving the room in search for the pro hero. Fumikage exhaled and closed his eyes. "Thank you, Hawks. Please just keep Sora safe."

Bakugou grumbled as he walked up the stairs of the elementary school. He didn't need to be called when he saw the news. In the middle of the city, Dark Shadow had been all over the news. Whatever battle had gone on, he knew that Sora had certainly not been picked up.

He had done this before and didn't need any assistance walking to the classroom. With hands shoved in his pockets and body slouched over, he made his way into the first-grade class.

"I'm here, Pipsqueak. Let's go."

The blonde teen was shocked to see Fuyumi packing her own bag, no red bird child in sight.

"Hawks already picked Sora up," Fuyumi said.

Bakugou frowned. "No, he's at the hospital after the huge ass fight."

Fuyumi's eyes widened with that last statement. Before she could speak, a high-pitched beeping came from Bakugou's phone.

"What the hell?" Bakugou looked down only to see a GPS signal notification being sent to him from a small dot. Bakugou's face turned white as he realized that this was Sora. Before he could even react, the dot disappeared and seemingly moved across the city.

"Oh, shit," Bakugou gasped before sprinting out the door.

Sora was cramped. She wasn't sure how long she had been trapped in the ball, but she knew it was a long time. The ball she was so squished in. She could hear voices. All of them were scary.

"Oh! Come on Shigaraki! Can't I just cut her a little?" The scary girl's voice said.

There was a loud bang. "Enough!" Shigaraki's voice echoed. "You can't hurt our goods! We need her."

"What good is a little girl to us?" A low slithering voice asked. "Children are just a nuisance."

"When a kid has a quirk like hers, they're not a nuisance, Spinner." Sora recognized that voice. That was of the scary man, Dabi.

"This better be as good as you and Dabi said," another male voice said. "We need to make money somehow if you want to fix that gear of yours."

"Don't worry, Girian. This girl should provide us a good source of income," Dabi said.

"Mr. Compress, let's have her out so there can be a demonstration." A deep, authoritative voice commanded.

There was a loud pop, the sudden light hitting Sora's yellow eyes made her close. She felt a pair of hands grab her arms and pin them to her side. Her backpack pressed against her back, separating her from the person holding her. Sora looked up to see the masked magician holding her still. Looking forward, Dabi, and a white-haired man with cracked lips stood smirking. Behind him was a large black mist in the shape of a man. He stood behind a counter, cleaning a glass. He was surrounded by serval bottles.

Sora gulped. She recognized many of those bottles as her mother's "medicine." This place had become even more frightening. Were these villains drinking too? Where they all going to be out of control. Their faces glared down at her. They were all so angry and scary.

The burnt man, Dabi, walked over to Sora. He lifted his crispy, burnt hand the girl's face. "If I were you, I'd show what you can do," He said.

Sora stared at his hand. Her body started to tremble. What did they expect her to do? Her breath shortened and her chest tightened. This was scary. This was not good. She closed her eyes and she felt tears well up. She couldn't hold back anymore. There were so many scary people around her. They were going to hurt her, too.

"Incredible."

Sora opened her eyes. The man's crispy hand was being held under her cheek. As her tears slid down the side of her face. All the villains were staring at Dabi's hand. The purple, scabbed skin quickly peeled away from the injury, exposing the light skin.

Dabi pulled his hand away from Sora's face and showed the back of his hand to the group. "As far as I can tell, those tears can heal just about anything."

Giran smiled. "Spinner, go get the cage. I don't want this child to go away. Dabi, go with him to get the vials we discussed."

Dabi nodded his head. He headed towards the door in the back of the bar, smacking the large, gecko man. "Let's do this quickly."

"Am I expected to remain, holding this child?" Mr. Compress' grip tightened on Sora's arms.

"If you don't want her, I'll hold her," Toga said with a toothy grin. She held a knife up next to her face. "She's such a cute little bird."

"She's a tiny child, do we really need cage? Break her legs! She'll hold still!" Twice yelled.

"You just need to hold her until they bring the cage. Calm down." Giran scoffed at Mr. Compress then started to head out the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" Kurogiri called out to Giran.

Giran paused, only turning his head back. "If we want to be able to sell, we need to get the word out. You all want those upgrades, right?"

"I want to use my helmet!" Toga yell. She pulled the needle out from her belt. "Suck, suck. Suck, suck."

"Exactly." Giran muttered as he walked out the door.

Sora felt lightheaded. Her neck melted, dropping her head in doubt and dismay. There was so much happening. Her arms were hurting as the man's grip tightened. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Fight"

Sora lifted her head. She could hear it. She could hear Bakugou in her head.

"Stop crying and fight."

Bakugou was right. She needed to fight. She started wiggling, kicking her legs. "Let me go!"

Thunk! One of her kicks hit the man in the knee. He released Sora to grab his injured limb. Sora bolted for the door. She could do it. She just needed to get outside. Suddenly, she was surrounded by a black mist.

Whack! Sora's head collided with something. She bounced away, back hitting against a wall of glass bottles. A bottle of Whiskey topped off the shelf and smashed beside her. The smell was overwhelming. She was once again small and weak. No one would take care of her. She looked up to see the giant, black smoky man, Kurogirir, and Shigaraki standing in front of her. She was now on the other side of the bar.

Shigaraki stepped forward, grabbing another bottle from the shelf with four fingers. "I'm going to give you only one warning," He said, scratching his neck with the other hand. "If you think being a smashed bottle like that whiskey is bad, just look at what I will do." Shigaraki's fifth finger landed on the bottle. The glass and liquid turned to dust.

Sora's eyes widened. Her body began to shake. This was very scary. This was too scary. Fighting didn't help. She wasn't strong enough to fight back. Her eyes began to water, and her beak clacked with worry.

A loud crash followed by immense grumbling moved into the rom. Spinner entered the room with a large metal dog cage with Dabi following behind holding several vile. A padded bed sat on the bottom of the cage. The gecko threw the cage on the ground. "I had to put this metal contraption together. Get in you brat!"

Sora didn't move. She was too afraid. Shigaraki must have sensed this because he grinned. "Get in."

Sora flinched and rushed over to the cage. She entered the metal trap and took a seat. Dabi placed the vials in the cage closed the door. "Make yourself useful and stop wasting your tears. Place them in those."

Sor touched her cheek, feeling the tears that she forgot were falling from her face. She picked up a glass container and tilted her head. Her tears dripped into the container. She didn't know what to do. Her mind simply blanked as the loud noises and everything around her disappeared. She took off her backpack and set it beside her. For a moment, her tears stopped, and her mind remembered what was in her backpack. Bakugou's plan to fight may not have worked, but hopefully Fumi's plan to find her would.

"Fumi is strong," Sora thought, "He and Dark Shadow will come get me. I just need to wait. I can do that. I can endure."