Chapter 49
Asami's Apartment – 6 Months Ago
Asami stands in her kitchen staring down at the chicken she is cutting for the gyoza they are to eat tonight. She looks down at the meat as a smile crosses her face at the question that pops into her mind.
"I don't understand how you can like chicken so much, aren't you like half chicken yourself?" she giggles as she stares over at the blonde who watches her cooking from the dining table.
He chuckles at her question, resting his palm on his cheek as he says with closed crescent moon eyes, "Oh yeah, I'm definitely half chicken." He opens his eyes and points down at her. "In fact, I was hatched instead of born so if you were ever to get pregnant, that's something to look forward to."
Asami's body goes rigid as she stops cutting and looks up at him with wide fearful eyes. "You're fucking with me."
"Nope!" he cheerily responds. "Pecked myself outta the shell and everything!"
"Oh, shut up!" she giggles as she playfully tosses a kitchen towel in his face, but he expertly catches it before it can make impact.
Hawks smiles at her with that infectious grin of his that brings a blush to her cheeks and across her nose. She sheepishly looks away because if she keeps looking at him like that, she'll melt in his gaze.
"How's work been?" Hawks asks her as he idly plays with the tablecloth. "Endeavor still working you to the bone?"
"Things have been strange," she admits to him as she mindlessly continues her cooking. "Ever since All Might's retirement he's been distant; more so than he normally is. I think the pressure of becoming the new Number One Hero is getting to him."
"He's been working towards it his whole career," Hawks argues. "Isn't that what he wants?"
Asami shrugs, "Well of course but…" she lingers to think of how to formulate what she believes is going on with Endeavor. "He's been working his entire career to surpass All Might and become the Number One Hero. He wanted to earn the title through his hard work and dedication but now…" she shakes her head and sighs. "He got it by default. He got it because the old Number One retired from a fight he barely won. I can understand Endeavor's hesitation in being happy for this, especially considering the Billboard Charts are around the corner and this will be the first year without All Might at the top. No one wanted Endeavor to be their Number One Hero, he just became it by default because the best stepped down."
Hawks sighs heavily at the thought of the public not seeing the worth of his favorite hero like he and Asami do. Endeavor may not be the flashiest hero, or the most approachable one, but he is still a great hero. With the most resolves in all of Japan and a dedication to the job like no other, he deserves this spot. It was never handed to him.
"I need to start thinking about a speech for the Billboard Charts. I know he's going to reject everything I come up with," she groans.
Hawks shrugs at her comment, "Does anyone really listen to those things anyway? No one ever really says what they want to say. They are just shows where the heroes play up cheap tricks to get more votes for the next one. It doesn't actually help their public image."
Asami looks up from her cutting to glare at him and he doubles back as he tries to reword what he was saying, "I didn't mean your job as a whole, I just meant it's a popularity contest and that's it. It has nothing to do with resolves because if it did, then Endeavor would be Number One. Why rank us in the first place? People should want to be a hero without all the praise and accolades," he tells her. "Look at someone like Crust," he continues. "The guy has been in the business for years now and a guy like me manages to outrank him because I'm a pretty boy who moves too fast."
"No," Asami shakes her head as she places her hands on her hips, preparing for battle. "You are in the top because I meticulously planned your public image for years. You never had a scandal or negative word published about you on my watch. Crust on the other hand has a weakness for other people's wives that has been going public which is making his rating drop in the polls."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that, so it's true?" his eyes widen with gossip.
She rolls her eyes at him and tries to hide the smile on her lips as she pulls her head down to focus on her cutting. "I would never let a story like that about you get out when I was working for you. And that's why you've climbed the ranks so fast. Not because you're a pretty boy."
"I'm not sure if I should be offended or grateful," he chuckles at her as he lifts himself from his chair and approaches her. "But don't you think your job would be a lot easier if heroes were allowed to say what they want without worrying about the popularity contest? If all they are looked at for is how good of a hero they are, then people in your position can focus on the more pressing issues in our society. You could use your voice to bring attention to hotter hitting issues than Crust frequenting the marital bed."
"Sure, it would be nice to work on the hero's public perception beyond clean-up, but that just comes with the territory. Most of my job is cleaning up after a hero."
"You have the power to completely sway an audience's perception on something. You should be working on building up Japan's image against the other nations, not some petty gossip."
Asami chews on her lip as she continues to cut the ingredients. Hawks sees her as something far more than a gossip peddler. She has the potential to really change the world with her work, and he just wishes that heroes were better at their jobs so she wouldn't be held back by them. She may not have a platform to be that influential voice right away, but if a hero were to speak up, then maybe they could overhaul the popularity contest and get people thinking about heroes differently.
He places his hands on her own, removing them from her cutting and holding onto them. He pulls her in close as she defiantly looks away from him, but he can see the playful smile on her lips.
"You know I've always been grateful for all that you've done for me," he says with a lowered voice and he moves a stray strand of hair from her face and behind her ear.
"You never made it easy," she grumbles as she thinks of all the long nights that she had to sell his stupid comments in interviews as an air of aloof coolness and not just him being a prick for the sake of being a prick.
"Hey, at least I don't have a weakness for other people's wives," he laughs and she finds herself doing the same.
"Okay Hero," she says tilting her head to the side with a wide smile on her face. "What's your weakness?"
You.
He wants to say it so badly.
You. You. You're my weakness.
"Tokoyami and I talked about this the other day," he begins. "I told him fire. My fierce wings aren't fire proof so I figure that'd be my biggest weakness. That and closed off quarters makes it difficult to fight with my Quirk." He answers her honestly and she nods at his assessment. "I'd also say damsels," he continues with a cheeky grin.
"Damsels?" she asks him with a confused stare.
"Yeah, I'm a sucker for a lady in need."
"That's misogynistic," she glares at him. "First of all, a man can be a damsel, and secondly what if the lady can handle herself?"
"Of course he can! I'll save him too!" he chuckles. "And I know she can, but that doesn't mean she has to. If there's someone in need—male or female—in front of me, I'm inclined to help. In the end, I'm going to prioritize their life over my own."
"You would risk your own life on the field? A hero's job is to assess the situation and help as they can. If it's too dangerous for their own life, they shouldn't risk it," she says as she turns from him, continuing to prep the food while he stands in the kitchen with her.
"I don't agree," he says with his brows turning inward. "Saving people regardless of how dire the situation, is what a hero means to me. They selflessly sacrifice themselves to those in need."
"Even if you'd die?" she asks as she stirs the pot of their soup.
"I'd die before letting anything happen to you," he says with a heaviness in his tone and she turns to look at him, seeing the truth spilling from his eyes.
"What if I don't want you to die for me?" she asks him as she's unable to look at his powerful gaze.
"I'd still die for you. I'd never let any harm come your way. Or anyone's."
"But your life is more important than mine. You're a hero. You have the potential to save so many people's lives. I'm just in Public Relations."
"I don't see it that way," he tells her as he pulls her from her task and forces her to look at him. "If anyone ever tried to hurt you, I'd die to protect you. It's as simple as that."
Her eyes shimmer at his comment and now is the perfect time to say it. He's been toying with those three words in his head for so long, trying to find the perfect moment to confess to her, but his heart races wildly and he thinks about the Commission. They'll ruin her career if it gets out and he can't be the reason for it.
"Tokoyami's life too; anyone's," he ends up blurting out and he doesn't miss the disappointment dropping in her features.
He wants to tell her so badly that he loves her, but once he does, he will want something more with her. He won't be able to do this secret life with her anymore once his feelings are voiced. And the second that he does voice his desires, the Commission will do everything in their power to destroy everything she has worked hard towards. It would be selfish of him to tell her that he loves her when her career is at risk.
"Well then," she forces a smile up at him as she tries to pull away from the heaviness of the conversation. "I guess I'll have to make sure I don't become a damsel."
Present Day – Day 82
Dabi wakes up with the biggest headache he's ever experienced. He wants to crawl into a hole and die or set his head on fire. He's so damn hungover and he can't recall ever being this bad. His heavy head moves slowly against the mattress like a bag of sand as he looks over to see that his bed is empty on her side and frowns to see that she's not here. His head hurts way too damn much to fuck her, so it's not like he'd be able to enjoy her if she was here. But he likes waking up to her next to him regardless.
He figures he needs to get out of bed at some point. He doesn't have anything planned with the Violet Regiment, so maybe he can plan something romantic with her. Maybe a picnic or something to celebrate the new ring and their union. He'll take her in a Sakura field where they can walk together. The leaves are starting to grow and it will look beautiful. The Sakura is their informal sacred branch that binds them, and this way he can take her to a forest of their special tree. He smiles to himself as he plans the outing.
He gets out of bed and starts the shower. He smells like a distillery and could use the cold water on his face.
After a quick rinse he gets dressed and heads to the common area where he sees Spinner and Compress cleaning up after last night's party.
"Mornin,'" Dabi drawls as he scratches the back of his head.
"Afternoon," Compress corrects him.
Dabi chuckles as he continues with a groan. "You see my girl?" he asks them as they continue to clean while he makes no effort to offer his help.
"She went looking for Twice, been gone for a long time too!" Spinner grumbles. "We could really use his doubles, this is torture hungover."
"Yeah, alright, I'll find 'em," he says as he lazily waves them off.
Dabi heads to Asami's bedroom first; it is on the way and there is a chance that she is there getting ready instead of looking for Twice.
When he opens the door, he notices that the small room is empty. He takes a step in and is instantly hit with the floral scent that lingers on her skin. He inhales a deep breath to take in her scent, relishing in the intoxicating aroma. He isn't sure how someone could smell so good or how he could be addicted to someone so much but he doesn't fight it anymore since she's his wife.
He does a once over of the room and notices that she showered while she was here, still smelling the scent of her bodywash and shampoo linger in the air. He approaches the dresser where he sees the ring sitting atop it.
Dabi's brows press together as he pinches the massive ring between his fingers and looks at it. He frowns at why it would be here and not on her finger. He tries to think back to when he placed the ring on her perfectly manicured nails and if it was too large or small for her fingers. Maybe the sizing was off and she didn't want to lose the thing? He didn't have time to size it to her, nor does he even know what size she wears.
His head is pounding wildly from the hangover as he tries to formulate a rational reason as to why she wouldn't be wearing his ring, but the irrational voice inside his head keeps gnawing at the insecurity that she didn't put it on this morning because she doesn't want to be his wife.
He swallows down the lump building in his throat and pushes that thought down with it. She is his wife now and she chose a life with him, she told him yesterday that… She wants my babies.
Dabi's eyes cast away from the ring and onto the pack of pills laying on top of her dresser. He's noticed that she always takes the pills first thing in the morning. He shoves the ring into his pant pocket and picks up the pack of pills.
If today's pill is missing then she's clearly ly—
Dabi's thoughts are silenced when he sees that the pill for today is still in the pack. She always takes a pill after she showers. She's never missed a pill and she's never strayed from her routine; she's neurotic like that. She didn't accidentally miss the pill today… she intentionally kept the pill in its pack.
"I wanna have your Babies."
Fuck.
Dabi lifts his head to the ceiling as he thinks about her drunken words last night. It's one thing for her to be drunk out of her mind talking about wanting babies and the countryside with him, but not taking the pill? She came into this room after a long night's rest, a cold shower, and a clear mind to still want his babies?
He thinks about having children with her and ponders what they will look like. He hopes they take after her in every way. He thinks about her as a mother and how good she'd be at it. She gives her undivided attention to that little psychopath Toga, so she'd be patient enough for children.
He wonders what she would look like pregnant with his child. Her body would be beautiful as it grew with his seed inside her. She'd be big and glowing and he'd take care of her and make sure she has anything she'd need.
He groans as he looks down at his growing desire for this fantasy playing out in his head. Fuck if he ever thought he'd have a breeding kink, but something about the idea of her wanting him and wanting his seed to grow inside her just gets him hard and ravenous.
Dabi begins searching through her clothes to steal something that smells like her. While he aimlessly fingers through the clothing, he wonders if his dad was like this with his mother. He knows their union was anything but loving, and he knows his mother was just as cold to his father as she was to him and the others—save for the masterpiece—so there was no love on her end either. But maybe there was at least something there?
He can't think of his father loving anything than his own rise to power and how his spawns could help him steadfast towards that goal. But did he get anything out of it? He fucked her sure, and in order for them to be born his father had to cum, but did he enjoy any of it? Did he ever look at his mother as something other than a breeding mare?
He shakes the thoughts out of his head because in the end he knows that he is better than his father; she said so herself. He will not be that piece of shit father. He will not follow in those footsteps. He will be a better father to his offspring. He will promise her that.
Dabi turns from her closet thinking about the little outfit she was in the night before. She must have some more of those slutty pieces of fabric lying around, and he's determined to find them. He moves back to her dresser where he imagines her stashing them and has completely forgotten why he is in here in the first place.
He begins digging through the drawers, finding more of these lacy outfits that she has yet to show him, and he wonders what else she's hiding from him. He took some toys from her nightstand that he's completely forgotten about. He will have to use those on her. He wonders what kind of faces she'll make when he's penetrating her while using one of her little toys on her. The desire to find out brings a wicked smile to his face.
He continues to dig into the drawers when he notices that one of them isn't closing all the way. He tries to close it a couple of times before he realizes that it's getting stuck on something. His brows furrow together as he investigates what could be the cause.
His hand digs through the drawer when he notices that the back paneling has fallen and something is shoved behind the dresser. He pulls his hand out and moves to the back of the dresser to see various clothing items stuffed behind it. His head quirks to the side when he sees this, wondering why there would be clothes stuffed behind the dresser since she's pretty good about being clean. He decides to help her out by fishing the clothing for her.
He reaches his hand behind the dresser and tugs onto a white lacy top that he's seen her parade around in. He smiles to himself as he remembers how great she looked in this. He presses the fabric to his nose and inhales when his body goes completely still. His hands grip onto the fabric tightly as he opens his eyes, giving it a once over.
It can't be.
He presses his nose to the fabric once more.
That fucking smell.
He begins pulling out the other articles of clothing that are lodged behind her dresser and each of them smells the same. That same manufactured fresh smell that makes him want to gag. The same artificial breezy scent that brings one face to mind.
He doesn't even have another moment to think before the entire room around him begins shaking. He clutches onto the fabric and looks up at the ceiling to see a crack in the foundation. The rumbling continues and he realizes that it is not a natural quake, but someone's Quirk at play.
Dabi fists the fabric in his grip as he effortlessly sets the cloth ablaze. He sneers as he looks away from the crumbling ceiling and begins walking steadfast towards his target.
In the hallways everyone is in a panic as they try to understand what is happening, while Dabi tries with all his might to keep his Quirk from devouring this entire building.
"The Heroes are coming!" Skeptic cries out frantically as he types wildly on his computer.
Dabi tenses his jaw painfully as his incisions threaten to break against his cheek.
Fucking Hawks.
The entire building begins shaking at their feet as the assault begins. Asami steps away from the crumbling foundation as she tries to make sense of the situation unraveling before her.
"The sheer threat to the heroes was the number of the Meta Liberation's Army on their side. So I had to keep an especially sharp eye on you and your double," Hawks says stepping towards Twice who remains incapacitated by his fierce wings threatening him like thousands of weightless daggers.
"My attempts to get close to you were wasted though, seeing as how you wouldn't give me any of the information I needed. It really all came down to Asami feeding me everything I needed to know."
"No, no, no no no, NO!" Twice writhes on the floor holding his splitting head. "Asami he can't be tellin' the truth! He's gotta be lyin'!"
The red wings sharpen around Twice as Hawks grows tight at the mention of her name. "Please leave her out of this, Bubaigawara," he says with a leveled tone. "I'm going to capture you and hand you over to the authorities. That's how this works."
"But… But… ahh!" he begins frantically. "You can't! I was supposed to be the best man! Asami! I was supposed to be the best man! Me and Toga… No! I trusted you! We… We trusted you! You were our family."
"Jin…" Asami begins with a building sob but Hawks speaks before her.
"It doesn't have to end here, Bubaigawara. I will help you start over."
"Please, Jin, just listen to him!" Asami calls out from behind Hawks as he strategically places himself between the two of them. "He can help you," she beseeches him. "He can make sure your sentence is—"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shuddup!" Twice snaps at her as he begins tearing at his mask. "You were our family! I was gonna be the best man! Now I'll never get to be the best man!"
"We can help you—"
"You call yourself a hero!" he snaps at Hawks.
"Stop that, Bubaigawara!" he says remorsefully.
"I don't care what happens to me! Not when it comes to my family!" Twice cries out as he lifts himself to his feet.
"I don't want to fight you!" Hawks shouts back.
"Well good for freakin' you!" Twice retorts as copies of himself lift from his form in a frensy towards them. He looks at Asami with bloodshot eyes, seeing the pain in her own stare. "You may have sold out the League, but I'd sooner die before anyone took away their happiness!"
The doubles begin to stampede towards Asami, but Hawks moves quicker. He swiftly reaches his arm back, pushing her away from an encroaching parade of men and knocking her off her feet to the ground. She looks up to see Hawks' feathers surrounding the area and striking down each of his copies with ease.
"Each of your successive double is less durable than the last," Hawks begins. "That was something Asami informed me about in her dossier on you. So I'm pleased to see that my fierce wings can strike these doubles down."
Twice looks over at Asami, his mask is torn at the right side of his face to reveal his bloodshot eye to her. He's crying, and she can't help but do the same. She shakes her head at him, wishing she could explain to him but she has nothing to say as her voice falls trapped in her throat.
"You can still have a life outside of the League if you come quietly," Hawks tries to reason with him. "But I will not let sentiment trip me up and allow your doubles the upper hand on me."
"NO!" Twice cries out as he begins to make doubles of the League members. "There is no life without them! They are my only friends in this world and I ain't interested in your life!"
Hawks takes down each of the doubles with his wings as they dissolve into a pile of grey goo. Twice emerges from the goo only to quickly create dozens of copies of Asami running after the winged hero. Hawks tightens his jaw as he sends the feathered daggers at each of them, knowing they are not real, but feeling the sting of stabbing her nonetheless. The real Asami is behind him and safe, so he needs to end this now.
Hawks quickly pulls on his long feather, hardening it to a long sword and launching himself towards Twice. If he doesn't remain level headed and on task, Twice will allow his emotions to get the best of him and hurt Asami.
He won't let any harm come to her; he'd sooner die.
With his sword he quickly slices at the villain, tactically injuring him to the point of incapacitation but not harming him fatally. He pins the villain down to the ground with a heavy thud and points the edge of the sword between his eyes.
"Don't do this, Bubaigawara. Don't you get it? You continue this fight without giving up then someone is going to end up dead!"
"Hawks!" Asami cries out as she crawls towards them.
"Stay back!" he barks at her and she shutters at the visceral tone of his voice.
"You people aren't heroes," Twice quivers under him, seeing how he quickly turned his tone on Asami and the harsh look in his eyes. "You turn your back on all us downtrodden folks. You're all a bunch of liars," he sneers as he glances at Asami, seeing her halting her crawl towards them as she remains on her hands and knees.
"You don't care but it meant a lot to me," Twice says, eyes fixated on her teary ones. "You helped me overcome my trauma. Helped me save Toga when I couldn't save her myself. She gave me her hankie and I was supposed to save her like she did me, but I couldn't."
"Jin," she cries as tears obscure her vision.
"You believed in me."
"I'm sorry," she cries as she lowers her head in shame, unable to look at the hurt look in his eyes.
"Doesn't matter," he says turning away from her. "No matter what, I'm going to protect their happiness!"
"I'll be sure to tell the League that," Hawks begins as his feathers move to apprehend him.
"Wait!" she cries out, however, before either of them can react, a wall of blue flames swoops through the room filling it with a sickening heat that Asami scurries from. Her eyes quickly lift up at the action when she hears his unmistakable voice.
"There's no need, I heard him loud and clear."
She hears the sound of breaking plastic when his boot shatters Hawks' visor as he pins him to the ground. He releases another round of burning hot flames that engulf the room as he continues his assault on the Hero. "Was he just an unlucky guy? Maybe by your screwed up standards," he sneers but before he can send another assault his way the hero manages to escape with Twice's limp body in hand.
Hawks barely gets any air with his damaged wings and ungracefully falls to the ground with a heavy thud. "You've lost most of your weapons, Hero," Dabi taunts him.
"And you almost burned your friend to death!" Hawks snaps back at him.
"Nah, because I know that heroes must always be ready to save a life, and put theirs at risk over others," he sneers at him.
"He's one of them Dabi!" Twice cries out with gurgled breaths. "You were right! He wasn't a friend!"
"This isn't your fault, Twice!" Dabi tells him with flames building in his palms. "Scummy heroes are to blame," he sneers as he begins for another attack.
"Dabi! Stop!" Her voice calls out over the crumbling room as if it were the loudest noise. Dabi halts his attack as his shoulders stiffen at the sound of her destitute tone. He turns around slowly, as if taking his time would make the idea of her being here a fantasy. But when his eyes lock onto hers, there is no denying her in front of him. "Please," she exhales with watering eyes.
Dabi takes a step towards her when Hawks lifts himself to his feet. "Don't you dare hurt her!" he cries out as he lifts his sword.
"Hurt her?" Dabi questions as he turns towards the hero with a scoff. "Why would I hurt her when she's my—" he stops himself when he sees the look in his eyes. He clearly believes that Dabi would do harm to her, and that fear plainly paints his expression. "She didn't tell you," Dabi says, coming to the realization.
Dabi's shoulders are stiff as he turns to Asami who begs him with her eyes to stop this. He scoffs and turns to the hero who still looks at him as if he were a monster who would hurt her. "She's my wife, Hero."
The look on Hawks' face is priceless as he widens his eyes and transfers his gaze back and forth between the villain and his girl. Asami makes no effort to tell him that Dabi speaks the truth and instead keeps her head down, staring at her hands clutching onto the ground below her.
"You're a maniac," Hawks shakes his head in disbelief. "You're lying!"
"Am I?" Dabi challenges him, but there is no need to tease him because Hawks can see the truth in his words. Asami's refusal to look him in the eyes says it all. 'Tell him, Butterfly," Dabi says keeping his eyes on Hawks to continue his taunt of him. "Tell him you're my woman."
Asami keeps her head down, unable to speak as her world comes crashing down. Not only is the building falling apart around them as the room fills with smoke from Dabi's flames, but this moment is exactly as Hawks had warned her about. Dabi is too hostile to trust Hawks to leave with them, but there is also another variable she never considered: Twice.
"She helped him, Dabi," Twice groans when Asami fails to bring voice to her words. "She helped him and now I'm never gonna be a best man!"
Dabi stiffens his body and turns from her to look onto his counterpart.
"She was kissin' him, Dabi!" Twice cries out to him with a destitute tone.
"Don't move!" Hawks growls at him.
No.
"Dabi," she sobs uselessly and he turns to her.
He can see it clear as day in her eyes as the deep guilt seeps from her gaze on him, and as much as he would like to convince himself otherwise—as much as he'd like to think this is another one of Twice's dumb jokes, her face says it all.
"I can explain," she whimpers with a quivering of her chin.
Dabi turns away from her, unable to see the shaking pitiful look in her eyes. His chest is throbbing and he feels like he can't breathe. His rib cage is tightening and collapsing and he feels like he's going to vomit or catch on fire all at once.
Suddenly, the ring in his pocket feels like the heaviest thing in the world.
His fists catch light with his burning flames and his anger becomes too ignited to tame. "You know, I tried, Butterfly. I really tried to be a better man for you," he says as he refuses to look at her. He turns his head over his tight shoulders with flaming fists at his side. "But I guess I'll never be a hero in your eyes."
"Dabi no!" she cries out but he turns from her, unwilling to see her pleading expression as she begs him to save the life of the hero she never stopped loving.
His eyes land on Twice and he nods once. The man knows what he is planning and if that's how this is going to be, then so fucking be it.
"Burn! I'm good!" Twice cries out as he launches himself from the warpath.
Dabi lifts his hand up and expels his flames towards the hero that poisoned her mind against him.
"I said don't move!" Hawks cries out as he launches himself from the path of the flames that catch fire to the exterior wall, bringing it down and opening up the arena. Another wall of sapphire fire fills the room and Asami shields her face with her forearm so not to be burned by the flames. Her hair is flowing wildly in her face at the hot air that blows around them and she frantically brushes the stray strands from her face to keep her eyes on Hawks.
She looks around in with dread as she tries to find the hero among the wall of flames and falling debris, but she cannot see him, and a panic sets in that he's gone. She becomes hysterical as uneven breaths fail to leave her lungs and she knows she has to do something to stop this.
"Just you alone is enough to slaughter those fucking heroes," Dabi growls at Twice as his eyes become wide and manic. "So go wild! The others are waiting for you!"
"Yeah! Okay!" Twice cries out as Dabi pushes him towards the exit to unleash his hoard onto the heroes in the horizon.
"Dabi! Don't!" Asami yells out as she lifts herself to her feet and runs up to him. She grabs his forearms, trying to tug on them to stop, but the heat emanating off his body is agonizing and she pulls her hands back with a yelp.
Dabi turns to her, shoving her to the ground with a single push. "I'll deal with you later!" he snaps at her, his head turning to her, eyes wild with hate. There is no tease in his voice as there always is and Asami feels herself slipping away as Dabi melts the room with his burning flames.
Asami turns towards Twice when she notices Hawks flying in with his feather sword drawn. Her heart races hysterically, seeing that despite the damage he's experienced to his wings, he was still able to pick up flight and escape the warpath of Dabi's fire.
"Outta my way!" Twice shouts, causing Dabi to stop his flames and turn around towards the encroaching hero.
Dabi turns and without checking that Twice is in the clear, he shoots another wild wave of flames that destroys everything in its path. He notices that Twice barely escapes by tumbling out of the way while Hawks flies just over the top of the flames with the help of the heat catching his feathers.
Dabi notices the intent in Hawks' stance as he holds the feathered blade towards Twice. "Keigo Takami!" Dabi shouts with a primal howl over the sound of the roaring flames and just as he expected, the hero halts his attack to look at the scarred villain with wide incredulous eyes allowing Twice to slip out.
Asami watches Dabi with the same shocked look in her eyes as Hawks. She told him his name once, but never his full name. His identity was something protected by the HPSC, so how the hell did Dabi figure it out?
She examines Dabi, seeing the steam lifting off of his body through his incisions as he cradles his forearm in pain. She can tell that he is burning from the inside out, she can smell his searing flesh from here and she knows him well enough to recognize when he's trying to hide how much pain he is in. There isn't much fight left in him, so if Hawks can manage to draw this out just a bit more…
Her eyes lift from Dabi when they land on Hawks tackling Twice with his feathered sword in hand.
"Keigo!" a guttural shriek tears open her throat as she lifts herself to her feet to watch helplessly while he drives his sword into the back of the villain.
Dabi freezes wide-eyed as the blood splatters onto the wooden floors below them. A puddle of crimson begins pooling at the base of his body as Twice falls face down on the ground.
"No! Jin!" Asami's animalistic cry rings out in the room as she pushes past Dabi and runs towards the two men on the balcony. She falls to her knees to grab Twice in her arms and turns him towards her. "Jin! Can you hear me? Jin?" Asami whines as she cradles the bleeding man in her arms. She shakes him slightly, trying to get him t0 remain responsive when she sees that he's still breathing. "Jin! Stay with me!"
Another wave of flames wooshes through the corridor as Dabi gains his wits about him and an uncontrollable hatred builds inside him. "You killed him," his voice cuts through the crumbling of the building. Hawks tries to evade Dabi with his wings, but the villain hits him with another attack that scorches his wings to the point of uselessness. He pins the hero down under his flaming boot as he towers over him. "How could you? How dare you kill Twice like that?"
"Is that…" Hawks huffs as his voice fails him from the thick smoke that they all choke on. "The face of a man who's just watched a friend die?"
Asami turns to Dabi, seeing the absolute manic look on his face as he smiles down at the hero. He's gaining satisfaction from this as he toys with his prey. Like the wolfman that attacked Asami, there is a deep pleasure that Dabi is getting from the thrill of provoking and taunting his victim before ending them ultimately.
Asami tears her eyes away from Dabi as she's unable to see him like this. She looks down at Twice as her shaking hands apply pressure on the wound. She is covered in his blood, and her shirt is soaked with the stain of his wound.
Twice looks up at Asami, blood gurgling in his mouth as he separates his quivering lips.
Asami speaks up to stop him, "You don't have to—"
"You were… my family," he speaks over her before he coughs up blood that splatters on his cheeks and lips.
"Jin please—"
"I trusted you," his voice is weak and labored, but the words are powerful enough to cut Asami down. She can hear the clashing of Dabi and Hawks fighting but all she can focus on in this moment is Twice. "You were… suppos'da be… different," he struggles on his words.
"Jin, it doesn't have to be like this!" she speaks quickly to get her plea in. "You can serve some time and then Hawks can promise you a life—"
"You're just like the rest of 'em," he speaks weakly over her. "Just like the rest of those heroes," he says the word as if it were the most vile slur he could conjure, and she can feel the weight of his hate crushing down on her collapsing chest.
Her fingers clench around his wound as she shuts her eyes, fighting back the tears that threaten to breech the barricades of her lashes. She can hear that he's lung shot based on the laboring of his breathing, and there isn't long for him to survive this. A hero with a healing Quirk is probably stationed somewhere away from the battle, so the chances of Twice surviving until they are able to transfer him to a healing station is unlikely, especially given the state of Hawks' feathers.
Asami glances back at Dabi and Hawks, seeing the battle unravelling before them. Hawks desperately dodges every wall of fire that Dabi sends his way, while Dabi's body continues to steam and deteriorate at the continued use of his Quirk. Asami's dossier on Dabi did not inform Hawks of this downside of his Quirk, but it's becoming increasingly obvious as the smell of his burning flesh permeates through the small confines of the ever heating room.
Dabi sends another wave of flames that knocks Hawks down to the ground with a heavy thud. The hero's breaths are strained and labored as he attempts to breath in the thick heat that Dabi has created.
Dabi approaches his with heavy steps as his boots thump against the wooden floors below him. Hawks attempts to lift himself up before Dabi can make a move against him, but Dabi pins him down with his boot, crushing his face to the floor.
"Stop it!" Asami cries out helplessly as she continues to hold pressure onto Twice's wound. "You're killing him!" she sobs as tears freely fall from her eyes.
Dabi keeps his eyes off of Asami, but she can see in the stiffening of his shoulders to her voice that he heard her. He lifts his hand up, igniting his fist as he revs up to send a final flame to the hero.
"NO!" Asami cries out, reaching her hand up to him with a final plea when Dabi's body freezes in motion and his flames extinguish from his palms.
She can see him straining and shaking as he uses all his strength to crane his head over his shoulder. When his bloodshot eyes reach hers, she widens her eyes in realization and she drops her outreached hand, releasing his body to go slack.
His chest lifts and falls as his shaking hand clutches at his heart.
Asami's Quirk is back.
She looks at her bloody hand that trembles from shock as small droplets of blood begin weightlessly lifting from her fingertips.
Without a second wasted, she reaches both her hands onto Twice's chest and uses her Quirk to move the blood from his lungs and feed it back to his heart. Twice takes in a sharp breath as his eyes open wide and he regains consciousness.
"Jin!" Asami cries out to him. "It's going to be okay! You're going to be okay!" she promises him as he intakes air frantically.
When she sees him stabilizing, she turns her head to Dabi. "He's going to be okay!" she tells him. "So stop this! Please!"
Dabi smiles wickedly, seeing that with Twice alive his goal will be achieved after all. He turns from Asami without acknowledging her and readies himself for a fatal attack to the hero.
"Stop!" Asami cries out as she reaches out to him and uses her Quirk on him once more, forcing his body to go rigid as he groans from the pain of his blood stiffening in his body.
Asami hears a gurgled coughing below her and looks down at Twice to see his blood loosely spilling around her fingertips. She drops her outreached hand and focuses her Quirk on Twice. She curses herself for never training her Quirk because if she did, she would be able to save Twice and stop Dabi simultaneously, but because she never did, she can only hope to keep Twice alive, while helplessly watching Dabi attack Hawks.
"Please," she cries as she looks down at Twice's strained face. "Please, let's just leave," she begs quietly between soft cries. She turns her head towards Dabi. "You don't have to do this!" she beseeches him with a louder plea that he can now hear. "We can leave!"
He continues stepping towards Hawks to the singular purpose of killing him and finally ending this.
"She chose you!" Hawks' voice growls with a feral pitch as he looks up at the villain.
This admission causes Dabi to halt his attack and he looks down at the hero with inquisitive eyes. "Who the fuck would choose this?" he questions with a sneer in the bridge of his nose as he smells his own flesh rotting and his staples melting off.
Hawks shakes his head in the same bewilderment, unsure how she could love someone as vile as him. "She chose you," he repeats with little fight left in his once visceral tone.
Dabi glances back at her as she looks onto him with a plea in her glistening eyes. His heart pounds in his throat and he feels himself getting sick.
He steps towards her when he hears someone call out, "Hawks!" Dabi turns around to see a kid standing in front of the hero, examining his wounds while creating a large shadow barrier between them. He recognizes the kid from the training camp little Shouto went to.
"Tok…" Hawks' voice attempts to speak but his esophagus is completely burned.
"Fumikage, it looks bad," Dark Shadow observes with a groan in its tone. "His back… it's… gone."
"You're one of those UA kids," Dabi speaks up to him with heavy breaths as he tries to cool off his body. "They're dragging students into this mess? How tacky," he shakes his head thinking about how disgusted he would be if he were a hero himself, but instead he finds it laughable.
"Check it out, Kid," Dabi says pointing over his shoulder. "Your hero killed my friend back here. He was just running off to protect his pals, but in the end, he got stabbed in the back!"
"Tokoyami!" Asami cries out to him when the young boy looks onto her cradling the villain. "Get Hawks out of here!"
"No!" Hawks tears his voice as he growls back, still lying there uselessly. "Tokoyami, use Dark Shadow and get Asami to safety!" he demands.
"What do you even think you're doing here?" Dabi teases the boy as he sees the wide-eyed look of panic while the boy looks between the two parties who call out to him. "Came here with the intention of doing some saving? But who are you here to save?" he questions the boy. "The pros you look up to have dirtier hands than ours."
"I'm just concerned for my mentor," Tokoyami's shaking voice calls out in a failed attempt to sound strong.
"You mentor hurt my buddy back there," Tokoyami turns his gaze to Twice who's hanging on by a thread as Asami's Quirk keeps him alive.
"Tokoyami…" Hawks groans as the boy looks down at his mentor. "Get Asami…"
"And you've stopped thinking for yourself!" Dabi smiles maliciously as he sends a wave of fire at the two.
"Stop it!" Asami cries out as she tries to use her Quirk on Dabi, but when she moves her hand, Twice begins bleeding out. "He's just a kid!" she snaps at Dabi.
"What're they teaching you at that hero school?" Dabi tsks with a disappointed shake of his head. "You get distracted like that and a villain will take that opening," he heckles him.
"Tokoyami!" Asami cries out to him as the scared wide-eyed teen looks at her for guidance. "Take Hawks and get him to safety, I'll be alright!" she reassures him with an unconvincing smile.
"No… Asami…" Hawks' voice is rapidly failing him from the smoke he's inhaled.
Tokoyami cradles his mentor in his arms, using Dark Shadow to take flight. "Tokoyami no!" Hawks yells at him. "Take Asami! That's an order!"
Before they can make it far, Dabi sends a wave of flames their way, weakening Dark Shadow and grounding the two with a heavy crash to the floor. They roll apart from one another and Hawks lets out a painful grunt as his burnt back takes the brunt of the impact.
Dabi shakes his head in disappointment. "Twice was right; there are no true heroes, and you Hawks are just like the rest of those scumbags that prance around better than the rest of us dreadful folks," Dabi continues to taunt him as he approached the stranded hero. "So willing to leave a lady in distress. A pretty boy like you with a Quirk as perfect as it is was destined for heroics. Even your piece of shit villain father couldn't hold you back."
Hawks' eyes widen as he looks up at the villain who seems to know everything about a past that was hidden and sealed.
"I gotta ask," Dabi continues. "How did it feel when the Endeavor put your old man away?" he questions as he places his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Did it give you hope? Did'ya get those warm n' fuzzy feelings that you could one day be a hero just like him?"
"You and the League," Hawks coughs out with as much might as he can. "I looked into your backgrounds, but I came up with nothing on you and Shigaraki. Only you two…"
"Well, congratulations," Dabi continues to taunt. "Because you've become a hero that's just like him."
"Who are you?" Hawks calls out to him with a growl in his sore throat.
Dabi chuckles to himself, his lips quirking into a sideways smile that tears at his steaming incisions. "When I kidnapped your girl, I had it all planned out. How I would take her, how she'd fight me at first, but would be screamin' my name to the point that she forgot yours," he taunts him as he forces his boot on Hawks' chest. The hero groans under the weight of him. "I had every little detail planned perfectly to get her to fuck me, and even when there was a bump in the road, I still managed to snag her for my own."
Asami's eyes reach the hero's as he looks onto her with downturned brows, as if apologizing for everything he's said or left unsaid. It's clear there's no fight left in him and this battle is over.
"You want to know who I am?" he questions him with a manic smile plastered on his face as he bends down to look at him with a tilted head. "When I was balls deep inside your girl, you wanna know what she'd say with that pretty little whine of hers?" he chuckles as Hawks' eyes blink back towards him.
"She said 'I fucking love you, Touya Todoroki'."
Hawks' weary eyes widen at this declaration and Dabi's smile grows across his face, pushing past the pain of the staples holding him back because the delight he gets from seeing the look on that hero's face is too sweet not to enjoy. He can see that his name is not foreign to the hero, and he knows the exact weight it holds.
"More than Twice," he begins with a flame building in his left palm.
"More than anyone else…" he looms over the man who lays at his feet.
"TOUYA NO!" Asami cries out.
"You should have been keeping both eyes on me!"
Tokoyami is left frozen as he watches the wall of flames spill from the villain's hand. He's reminded of Todoroki's attack of Midoriya at the sport festival, where the entire arena lit up with his flames. Even from his seat in the bleachers he could feel the heat of his classmate's flames.
The heat emanating off of the villain's attack are far worse than anything he's ever felt from his half-and-half classmate. His eyes are burning, Dark Shadow is useless in this light, and the heat is sickening as it sticks thickly in the air. He's unable to keep his wits about him in this moment, and he's ashamed to say that he's scared. He wants to help Hawks and save his mentor from this blast, but he is frozen in fear.
All he can hear is a raw shriek of pain coming from the other end of the attack. Only… the cry is not coming from Hawks.
Tokoyami forces his eyes to open over the heat of the flames, only to have them extinguished when all parties hear the cry over the whooshing fire. The young hero in training is frozen in shock and terror as the flames and smoke settles to show Asami laying atop Hawks as a barrier to the flames.
A deafening silence sweeps over all of them as Hawks' shaking hands move to examine the woman laying on top of him. She's limp and charred, her body covered in burns, her hair scorched at her shoulders, and her eyes closed with her face still.
It is clear to Tokoyami and the others that Asami is dead.
A/N: I am not sure what to say after this chapter... I hope you enjoyed it? It was pretty depressing reliving this scene and adding Asami in it. Let me know what you all think with this cliffhanger and where you think the story will go from here!