A/N: Welcome back! This chapter was supposed to be much longer, but I was desperate to get it out in time for Dabi's birthday today! So, Happy Birthday Dabi!
Also, it was mentioned that the President of the HPSC was killed off in the anime, so we are going to pretend that never happened and her cold dead heart is still beating in this story!
There are going to be a few things that I deviate from the Manga from here on out, so I hope you guys like the change!
Chapter 56
Present Day – Day 170 - 17 Weeks Pregnant
A line in the middle of his forehead forms as his bushy golden brows furrow together. Asami bites down on her bottom lip, watching his facial features twist and knot into a reaction she didn't expect. Her heart beats wildly in her chest, figuring that he's angry with her and she begins to panic as she tries to find a way of explaining herself.
"Please don't be mad! I… it… I was new! And—"
Hawks puts a halt to her jumbled apology by bursting into a loud laughter that shakes the small bed the two of them sit on. Asami blinks at his response as his head is thrown back, eyes shut with small tears beading at the corners.
"That was you?" he chokes out when she tells him that she was the one who destroyed his first hero suit. "I told Riku to get it washed, why did she give it to you?" he asks her after his fit of laughter is contained.
"She was pissed at you for treating her like a secretary!" Asami snaps back. "You were too damn cheap to hire people to run your errands and she wasn't having it that week!" she finds herself laughing as Hawks' infectious demeanor rubs off on her. "She begged me to get it done, so I figured I'd take it home and wash it myself."
"It was leather, you can't wash it," he shakes his head.
"How the hell was I supposed to know that?" Asami barks out with a chuckle. "I never did laundry growing up! I didn't realize that you can't wash and dry leather!" she shrieks.
"So, you destroy my first hero suit, and then you blame Riku for it?" he shakes his head at her.
"It was my first week there; I was terrified that you were going to fire me!" she explains. "Riku was your first hire, so she was safer than me."
"I would never fire you," he tells her with a softening manner as a seriousness takes over him. But a heaviness befalls them for a moment as the realization that Hawks did in fact have to fire her creeps over them.
He clears his throat, trying to reword but Asami speaks before he can. "I know," she silences any worries that he might have. He watches her as the strongest look of admiration in his eyes draw her in with an irresistible pull.
"Riku was pissed at me," Asami muses as she looks away from his powerful gaze. "But I bribed her with lunch for a month."
Hawks chuckles, "Free food is always the best remedy for forgiveness."
Something flutters in Asami's naval just as he says this and she looks down at her stomach. "Woah," she lets out placing her hand flatly on her stomach.
"What is it?" Hawks asks her as he lifts himself from the bed, preparing himself for anything. "Is the baby coming?" His eyes bulge as he begins to panic around the room.
"No, you dork!" Asami laughs as she watches his shoulders loosen at the information. "It's way too early for that. It's just… I think I felt it move," she says focusing on the feeling.
"Oh," he says planting himself back on the bed.
"Here," Asami says, reaching for his hand and placing it on her stomach. Hawks is forced to lean into her, palm pressed flatly below the navel of her stomach.
His cheeks redden at the intimacy of their closeness. Though Asami and Hawks have been spending most of their nights together, they have not been intimate since before Dabi kidnapped her. He stays in her room with her and they focus their conversations on something happy and lighthearted, but he's never spent the night with her, still feeling a strangeness between them.
Since the war, Hawks has been haunted by the image of Jin's pleading face reaching out to him as he begs to save his friends. The dream always switches to him stabbing Jin, and covering himself in the villain's blood before he's engulfed by blue flames.
When he spends his nights with Asami, he's able to stay up with her for most of the night until she gets too tired and starts to fall asleep. He likes watching her drowsy eyes blink heavily, and the soft smile touch her lips before she involuntarily yawns and stretches out her limbs.
It takes all of his strength not to crawl into the bed with her and press his body against her frame in a tight hug, but she's never asked him to stay and he's never made a move to either. Both of them trapped in a dread of how the other will react should they ask.
By the time Hawks makes his way back to his own room in the middle of the night, he's so exhausted that his mind doesn't have the strength to conjure a dark reverie, so he's able to sleep soundly for a few hours. Her presence has been a welcomed distraction from the nightmares, he just wished that he had the strength to move past this purgatory they've found themselves in because of Dabi.
"I don't feel anything," Hawks finally says.
Asami frowns at the response, wishing that he was able to feel and share in the excitement of this moment with her. "I guess it'll take a bit for you to feel it."
The awkwardness between them is so thick it could be cut with the dullest of blades.
Hawks shimmies away from Asami and she flattens out the fabric of her shirt against her growing belly. Hawks watches her aimlessly play with the fabric before he speaks carefully, "Are you going to find out the sex?" he questions her as she turns to him. He shrugs, "Just feels strange calling it… 'it'."
Asami chuckles softly, "Yeah, I guess it is weird. I just haven't gotten to it."
"Asami," Hawks begins to scold her and she knows where this is going; the conversation is tired at this point. "You need to take care of yourself and this baby. You have to go to the doctor. You have to start telling people."
"I will, Keigo. I'm just waiting—"
"Asami, you're showing," he stops her before she can deny the fact. She looks at him with a shocked face and he bites on the inside of his cheek when he sees the betrayal hit her eyes. "I'm sorry, but you can't hide it anymore. It's… obvious…" he hangs as his eyes land on the small growing mound.
Asami sighs, rubbing her stomach and knowing it to be true, she was just hoping she could lie to herself for a bit longer. "Fuyumi is going to hate me."
"Just tell her the truth," he instructs her. "Fuyumi will understand."
Asami thinks for a moment. She's more than a third of the way through this pregnancy, so maybe she can go the rest of it as a shut in? But how long will she be able to keep this news from her? The second this baby is born looking like the spitting image of her villainous brother, she's going to lose it on Asami for never telling her. Hawks has a point, and Asami needs to tell Fuyumi before it's too late.
"I can help you tell her, if you need me." he offers her with a soft smile.
"Yeah," she smiles back softly. "Thanks, Keigo."
Asami's lips part as a large yawn escapes her. She hides the yawn behind her hand, but Hawks catches it and smiles at her. "Ah, there it is, looks like someone is ready for bed."
Asami shakes her head vigorously "No!" she tells him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yawn. That was rude."
"It's alright," he smiles at her, placing his hand firmly on her thigh. "Get some rest."
Stay. Asami's voice is trapped in her throat as she watches him lift himself to his feet and head to the door.
When his hand reaches the doorknob he hesitates for her to say something.
Stay. Stay. Stay. I need you to stay here!
"Goodnight, Keigo," her voice says instead.
"Goodnight, Asami," he responds, wishing she'd ask him to stay.
Present Day – Day 171
In the following day, Hawks tries his best to hide the yawn that forces his lips to part as he stands in the back of the room, listening to the Heroes that gather around the table.
"There are still no confirmed deaths," the President's voice brings the blonde hero back to the present. "Regardless, approximately 240 acres of the city have been decimated by his flames. Despite the masses of villains being released from Tartarus roaming the streets, with the cold winds coming, Dabi's flames are our biggest concern."
Hawks' eyes slide over to the red-haired hero seated at the center of the table with his eyes fixated on his hands while a shameful expression deepens the features on his face.
"Heroes with Water Quirks have been dispatched to the scenes, but most of these areas are crawling with dangerous criminals. Sending anyone out is a death sentence considering their numbers."
"Screw that!" Miruko speaks up from her chair as she eagerly wishes to return to the fight. "Send me in with 'em and I'll squash any villain who thinks they can take me on!" Hawks questions if her words are just for show considering she's in a wheelchair, or if she's genuinely unaware of her handicap.
"Yeah, you gonna roll over them?" LockLock challenges her.
Miruko snorts out a laugh, "Hey! My arm and leg gear are coming! Hatsume from the Support Class just said that all trade has been blocked from Japan due to the war, but they are working with private companies that are willing to aid in the supply chain efforts."
"All foreign trade has been blocked," the President affirms. "Air and Sea transportation has been suspended by all major travel corporations. No one is getting in or out of Japan unless they have ties to their own transportation. We have reached out to other countries for aid, but many aren't very keen on the idea of starting a war with All For One," she says with a tightening jaw.
"So, all support gear is blocked?" the patriarch of the Iida family worriedly asks, knowing that he and the Iida family rely heavily on their support gear.
"With Re-Destro having a monopoly on all Support Gear and considering how that turned out, it will be difficult-to-impossible to receive any support gear at the moment," the President informs. "As Miruko mentioned, unless a private beneficiary is willing to sponsor the absurd price and transportation, it's unlikely we will receive any help."
"Have there been any sightings of the League?" All Might wearily asks the President.
"Dabi has been spotted on various occasions, leaving a trail of fire in his wake," she adds as her eyes reach Endeavor's while his remain planted on his hands. "Two attempts have been made to apprehend the villain, and both have ended with near deaths," she adds. "Kurogiri, Dr. Garaki, Gigantomachia and Mr. Compress remain in our captivity. Re-Destro, Trumpet, Geten, and over fourteen thousand Meta Liberationist have been apprehended. Spinner has been spotted moving with associates of what remains of the Meta Liberation Army. But Toga, Shigaraki, and All For One have yet to be spotted by agents."
"Has Dabi or the others made any demands?" Edgeshot questions. "Is there some sort of deal we can reconcile with him?"
The President locks eyes with Hawks and he her. They both know why Dabi is burning Japan to the ground, and despite wanting to protect her from Dabi, Hawks still can't stomach the idea of anyone dying because of it.
"No attempts have been made to discuss negotiations," she begins as she turns her attention to Edgeshot. "Dabi is making it clear he's not willing to hear us out."
"What about Deku?" LockLock asks. "The kid left UA thinking he could go run around being a Vigilante or something?"
"Young Midoriya has been responsible for rounding up dozens of villains since the villains have broken out of Tartarus," All Might narrates. "He is in direct contact with me and the top three here," he says nodding at Best Jeanist, Hawks, and Endeavor. "But he keeps his distance and refuses to return to UA for fear of All for One retaliating against the compound."
"And taking One for All? The stockpiling Quirk that you gifted him?" the hero adds with a pressed disdain in his tone.
"Yes," All Might answers with a shameful bow of his head.
Endeavor tightens his fists under the table of heroes, feeling something nasty coiling in his chest at the reminder. The reminder that the man that he fixated on besting, the Quirk that he chased after was a stockpile of Quirks that made it impossible for him to reach.
His goals, his battle, his beating his children for his blind ambition to reach the Number One spot, was a wasted venture considering the power he was up against.
It was all for nothing, and now all he has to show for it is a fractured family and a villain son burning down the world around him to punish him for his sins.
"We will keep Deku at a close distance, but we will not stop our support," the President informs the heroes. "He is wrangling villains and we need his efforts. Though I don't agree with his decision to stay from UA, we work with what we must."
"What can we expect from All For One considering that he is after Deku?" Best Jeanist asks, hoping to prepare himself for anything.
"Considering the roster of villains missing from Tartarus and their abilities, there is only one villain I can think of that All for One would send his way," the president responds with. "Lady Nagant."
A shiver rolls up Hawks' spine as he looks up at the President's golden eyes fixated on him. His throat is dry as that name bounces off of the walls of his head.
Lady Nagant was a cautionary tale for Hawks on what could happen to him should he go against the wishes of the Hero Public Safety Commission. When Hawks was finally graduated from his hero training, his first task under the radar was to bring in Lady Nagant. She was his mentor, and he looked up to her when he was going through the strenuous program that the HPSC put him through. He aspired to be her one day… until she betrayed them.
After a long-winded battle of stealth and speed, he was finally able to gain the upper hand on her and bring her in. This is the first he's hearing that she was amongst those who escaped.
She is and remains to this day, the most difficult opponent Hawks has ever had to face.
"Do we have any sightings?" Hawks asks her, stiffening his shoulders and responding in a tight and obedient way like the soldier he was trained to be.
"None so far, but we have our agents on sweeps to find her. Though Dabi's flames are making it quite difficult to maneuver around."
Hawks nods, figuring this is the worst case scenario. If Lady Nagant is out there and looking for Deku, there will only be a matter of time before she takes him out and brings him to All for One. Their only saving grace is that All for One needs Deku alive to gather One for All.
The meeting with the heroes is dismissed, while Hawks pushes himself off of the wall that he was rested against to leave the meeting when the president calls out to him, asking him to stay behind. He contemplates just ignoring her altogether and finding Deku but he decides not to, and hangs back while the rest of the heroes shuffle out of the room. He isn't sure what the president has to say to him at this point.
"Recovery Girl tells me you visited her regarding your wings," she begins as Hawks stiffens his shoulder blades at the mention of the small baby feathers hiding behind his shirt. "In spite of that, she informed me that you'd still never fly without the use of support gear." Hawks remains silent and unreadable, just as they taught him. "I've been working on trying to get something for you, but as you heard, supply chain is difficult."
"Focus your efforts on Miruko," Hawks returns with a flat tone.
"We can't afford anything for Miruko as well. The Japanese banks have shut down, no one is paying taxes for us to receive public funding, and foreign dignities are reluctant to help this early on."
"Just do what you can for everyone else."
"Hawks, you won't be able to fly without support," she reminds him harshly and Hawks just looks at her with a dead expression, knowing that there is no use to have this discussion.
The president sighs, seeing the frustration in Hawks' stance. "Would you sit for a moment?" she motions him to the table as she takes a seat at the head.
Hawks makes no move to sit and the frown line on her face deepens. "I'm not your enemy, Keigo," she tells him with a tightness in her tone while he remains still and unmoving.
She sighs again and looks out through a window at the city below them. Everything in their wake has been destroyed and the only thing keeping UA fortified is the constant effort of dozens of heroes working around the clock. She recognizes each of their efforts and she knows that without them, they'd all be reduced to dust thanks to Shigaraki.
She pulls a cigarette from her blazer and places it on her thin lips. After a moment of fiddling with the lighter, she takes the much-needed drag.
"We've really found ourselves in a shit storm, haven't we?" she asks him shaking her head as she looks onto the city below them. "All our efforts… all of them are starting to feel in vain considering the outcome," she says, clearly speaking more to herself as she expects no answer or response from him. "And now Kaina Tsutsumi is back like a bloodstain that we can't just wipe our hands clean of."
She shakes her head, silently cursing Hawks for not killing her when he had the chance. "It feels as though we can't seem to make the right choices anymore," she idly speaks as she nurses the cigarette that brings a wrinkle to Hawks' nose.
"I know we made the right choice in taking you in," she tells herself. "We saved you from that hellish living situation and gave you a life worth living, did we not, Keigo?" Her eyes are now on him, waiting for him to affirm her with declaration, but he keeps his lips pressed in a flat line.
She sighs and continues, "Believe it or not, I am grateful to Miss Hatsuse," she begins and Hawks coaches his emotions to remain checked. "Without her intel, the war would have had a much different ending."
Hawks wonders if there is a point to her conversation, or if she's just idly speaking what has been on her mind these past few weeks.
"I am not a bad person," she asserts both for him but mostly for herself. "The writing was on the wall; Dabi was tamed by her. Having you deliver the message that she needed to gather intel for us was the only way. I regret that it was at the behest of your feelings for her, but based on the timeline of her pregnancy, it was clear that she had already made her decision."
"Is there a point to all of this, or do you just enjoy trudging up what's in the past?" Hawks asks her in a flat tone, biting back his desire to tell her to fuck off.
"Is it in the past?" she questions him. "It's difficult to move forward when that mistake grows by the day." Hawks says nothing to this, and makes a move to leave when she continues, "You made no effort to defend her today." He stops at the door, turning around to see her shaking her head as she exhales a puff of smoke.
"We both know why Dabi is burning down Japan. He's somehow figured out that his captive is alive. We both know that he wants Hatsuse back. And we both know that striking up a deal might stop his little temper tantrum. And yet, when the slightest mention of a deal was declared, you hadn't spoken up to refuse the idea."
She takes another drag now, sharp cat-like stare examining his every micromovement. She allows for the awkward silence to befall them while she waits for him to really mull over that fact. Had it been before the realization that Asami was pregnant with Dabi's child, or possibly before that when she chose the villain over him, Hawks would have fought her in front of the heroes, but he remained quiet, and allowed for the question to be voiced.
"Had you really thought I was stupid enough not to see that you and Hatsuse never ended your affair after I asked it of you? Or are you foolish enough to not see that it was for your own good?" she questions him and he remains standing before her. "I didn't want her clouding your judgement and slowing you down," she informs him. "It was not out of malice that I separated you. It was to save your career and hers. Had it been anyone else who walked into that room and saw the two of you together, you both would have been ruined. I only allowed your relationship to continue after the fact because it made you genuinely happy."
He blinks at her, finally showing the cracks of his true feelings when confusion breaks his façade. "Despite what you may think, I do still want that for you." The President finishes off her cigarette and crushes the butt in a glass tray as she continues with smoke falling from her lips. "I'm sorry we took your childhood from you. I'm sorry you couldn't have an open relationship with Miss Hatsuse. I'm sorry that Dabi took that moment to take her away from you and poison her mind. And I'm sorry that she chose him in the end."
Hawks stiffens at this apology, never expecting anything like that from someone as stone cold as herself, because he can see that despite the cold and analogue delivery of the apology, it was still genuine.
"Seeing you two together, knowing that she ran into those flames for you, watching you give up your wings and dream for her comfort…" she looks away from the ashtray and out to the dilapidated city. "It's tragic."
Hawks inhales an unsteady breath as her eyes reach his once more.
"I know that your own happiness has always come last. And I'm sorry if it will come to it, but I'd hope that you'd understand; should the conversation be had… if I need to trade Hatsuse to maintain what little remains of Japan, I will."
Present Day – Day 172
Asami's chest lifts and falls with labored breaths as she focuses all her efforts on puppeteering the limbs of the man standing before her. It's a new move that they have been working on since Hawks recommended that she work with the UA teacher. She's had the ability to halt the movements of her adversaries, but Vlad King has been able to build Asami's Quirk into moving the blood in the muscles to operate her opponents' body in the way she pleases.
She brings the man three times her size to his knees before he calls out their safe word and she releases her hold on him. She is still slow in her movements but with more practice, Vlad King assures her that she will be a formidable opponent. And those words of encouragement make a smile reach at her lips.
She is brought back to the words of her father and how he was always adamant that she not use her Quirk. She thinks about all the opportunities that he robbed her of having never allowed her to train with her Quirk. Through she is grateful towards the efforts that she put into building her Public Relations career, she cannot help but wonder what could have been had she never been held back at such a young age.
Vlad King smiles warmly at Asami, "You're really getting the hang of this!" he excitedly announces. "I'm shocked at how quick you're picking this up!"
"Thanks!" she smiles with a huff of air. "When do you think we can add another person?" she asks him.
Vlad King hesitates for a moment, "I don't think you're quite ready yet to take on two people at once," he tells her hesitantly. "But I can speak with Mr. Aizawa to see if he's available to assist."
Asami chews on the side of her cheek at that answer. She's been eager to learn how to manipulate the blood of multiple individuals since she began training. It's clear that she's holding a lot of guilt for what happened to Twice because of her lack of strength with her Quirk. With Vlad King's trainings, she wants to make sure that she's never in a situation where she needs to choose one life over another's again.
The gray-haired teacher instructs her to take a break, and after bowing to one another, they separate while Asami makes her way towards the bleachers of the gym. She looks around at the rest of the students hanging around the gym working on their Quirks.
She notices Bakugo right away, watching the short-tempered boy growling behind heavy shots of his explosive Quirk. She can tell that something is bothering him as his brows are furrowed with frustration that he's taking out on a dummy.
Asami turns her gaze from Bakugo and looks over to see the dual hair of Shouto approaching her. She smiles at the boy and he returns the gesture. "What brings you to the gym?" he asks her with a soft smile on his face.
She grabs her water and stands next to him. "I've been training with Vlad King," she informs him. "He's been helping me get a better grasp of my Quirk." She giggles, "It's been great, actually. I've discovered a drawback of my Quirk!" she happily announces. "Turns out if I overuse my Quirk, I get lightheaded and nauseous!"
"That's a good thing?" Shouto chuckles awkwardly as he scratches at the back of his head.
"Well, that's never happened before, so it means that I'm reaching my limits and advancing past them!"
"Yeah," he smiles back at her. "Mr. Aizawa informed us that Quirks were like muscles and the more you trained them, the stronger they become," he tells her, feeling the same enthusiasm she's clearly feeling.
"That's what Vlad King said as well. I know I won't be as good as you, but I want to be helpful around here."
Before Shouto can respond to her, he is distracted by the deafening boom that resonates in the gym from the explosive boy just meters away from them.
"He seems very… focused…" Asami mentions as she watches the blonde launch himself from each angle of the gym.
"He hasn't been taking Deku's departure very well."
"Deku? Oh, Midoriya? The boy from dinner?" she asks him and he nods at her.
"He believes the villains are after him, and that we'd all be safer if he were far away from us. Bakugo wasn't happy to hear about his departure."
"He's working with Hawks and Endeavor to gather all the escaped villains from Tartarus," Asami says as she thinks about the young boy that she met that night and how sweet he was. She can't imagine how he could go off on his own considering the state that Japan is in. With the fall of Tartarus and the streets teeming with villains, it's the last place a boy his age should be.
Shouto responds with a slow nod, heterochromatic eyes focused on his hurt friend.
"Don't worry, Sho, Hawks and your dad will keep him safe. I just know it," she reassures him with a timid voice.
Shouto's eyes slide away from his friend and onto Asami as she stands before him with soft eyes. He smiles at her attempt, but they both know what is out there waiting for him. They've both felt the heat of Dabi's fire, and they know that should Midoriya come across him, there is no surviving those flames.
"Todoroki! Are you ready for our sparring session?" the voice of Iida pulls the two out of their grim thoughts. "Oh, hello Hatsuse!" he bows respectfully to her.
"Please, Tenya, it's Asami!" she tells him with a soft smile. "How are you?"
"I am well!" he announces. "Shouto and I have been sparring recently. We are trying to get my engines to withstand high heat should I find myself in a battle with Dabi and the League."
"That's great to hear," Asami smiles at him as Tokoyami joins the trio. "Are you working on having Dark Shadow power up around Shouto's flames as well?"
"It's been difficult," Tokoyami informs her. "Dark Shadow rages best in the darkness, so the flames of his Quirk weaken him substantially, but I am trying my best."
"I'd love to see how you all have improved!" Asami asks them and the three boys all look at one another, silently agreeing to spar.
Asami watches the boys fighting and using their Quirks seamlessly with one another. She notices that Iida does sputter in some instances when Shouto turns up the heat of his flames, while Dark Shadow goes into a weakened state from the light. Though the more they fight, the better off they are against his flames.
She finds herself thinking about how hard the young boys are training and what they are training against. Though the flames are not Dabi's, she thinks about these three boys against him and what that battle would look like. They are just kids, and they don't deserve to fear what will come of their next battle. She can't help but wonder if she could say something to Dabi; if she could appeal to some part of him—of Touya—that still remains in there and beg him not to fight against these children.
She bites down on the side of her cheek, knowing where that thought goes and how it is useless to think that she can do anything to stop him. Dabi has fixated on the decision to kill his brother, and the love he once had for Asami will do nothing to stop it.
Once the children are finished battling with one another, they join Asami on the bleachers. "You guys were amazing!" Asami compliments the boys with crescent moon eyes and a happy clap of her hands.
"Thank you!" Iida responds with a bow while the other two boys join behind him. "I did what I could, though I could have done more had I had the Support Gear I put in for."
"You don't have all of the gear you need?" she questions.
"No one does," Iida informs her. "With Re-Destro's black markets shut down and the boarders closed for trade, no one is able to get any support gear without the help of a benefactor to pay for the costs."
"I hear Miruko can't even get the necessary equipment needed to return to the field," Tokoyami adds.
"Hatsume is doing her best, but there is only so much she can create with the shortages in the the supply chain."
"Is there anything I can do? I have a lot of money saved up in an offshore account that might help?" Asami asks, eager to do anything to help.
"We can ask Hatsume what she needs," Iida suggests and Asami nods her head, wanting desperately to help as much as she can.
"Are you able to set something up so I can meet her?"
"We can go now!" Iida informs her and Asami shrugs, having nothing else really planned.
Tokoyami and Shouto stay behind to continue training while Iida leads the way to the lab where the Support Class works most of the time. He opens the door to the shop where they are immediately greeted with the sound of banging crashes of clanking metals.
Iida smiles largely as he steps towards the pink-haired woman with goggles covering her eyes. Grease stains smear over her face and tint her hands while she focuses on welding some materials together.
"Hatsume!" Iida formally reaches her with a stiff and respectful bow.
The pink-haired girl turns from her task, lifting the goggles from her eyes and peaking from them to see who calls out to her. A smile takes over her entire face when she sees Iida standing before her.
"Oh hey, Engines!" she loudly responds. "I still don't have an update for your upgrades. The supplies are still blocked," she informs him with an exaggerated frown that contradicts her large smile from before. "Is there anything else I can help ya with?" she asks him as she turns from the machine that she's welding together to give him her full attention.
"I am actually here to introduce you to Asami Hatsuse," he tells her, turning to Asami who bows to the woman.
"Hatsuse, huh?" she questions. "You wouldn't be related to Money Bags Kenji Hatsuse, would you?"
Asami awkwardly chuckles, scratching at the back of her head at the interesting choice of nickname. "Ugh, yeah. I'm his daughter," she says and the teacher working in the back turns his attention to her as well.
"No way?" Hatsume questions. "Damn, so you're like, richer than the Imperial Family!" she excitedly exclaims.
Asami quickly lifts her hands up in surrender, shaking her palms at the woman with a panicked expression. "Oh no, no!" she shrieks. "It's my dad's money, not mine," she tries to humbly sell, but the pink-haired girl isn't buying it.
Asami sighs, figuring that there isn't much she can say to sway how Hatsume and her teacher see her, so she just gets with her point of why she's here. "Tenya was telling me that it's difficult to get support items right now?" she begins.
"The boarders are closed," Hatsume's teacher, Power Loader jumps into the conversation. "Any publicly funded transportation has ceased operations."
"What about privately funded?" she questions him.
Power Loader pauses for a moment before answering, "The banks of Japan have frozen their accounts. No one can access their money."
"I have private accounts offshore," she informs them, quietly thanking her father for teaching her to keep her money in various accounts should anything like this occur. "If I can help, I would like to sponsor any support gear that Iida is waiting for. And Miruko as well!" she adds quickly. "It's not right that she's held back from the field," she says, but doesn't voice the guilt that she holds for being the one to suggest Miruko be dispatched to Jaku. She thought that her speed and strength would be the perfect asset to bringing in Ujiko; she hadn't expected the Nomu to be released and ravage her the way they did.
"How much money are we talking about?" Power Loader asks.
"Across all my offshore accounts," Asami thinks for a moment, "Give or take 37 million Yen."
Power Loader pauses, conceivably looking stunned, but Asami can't be sure considering his face is a machine. He turns his head to Hatsume who is practically jumping and giddy with joy.
"Will that be enough?" Asami asks, feeling self-conscious about the amount.
"That's…" Power Loader is completely stunned while Hatsume jumps in from behind him.
"It's perfect!" she screeches with a clap of her hands. "We can have it all?" she hungrily asks.
"Well Tenya and Miruko's needs would come first," Asami begins. "And Hawks doesn't need anything since Recovery Girl said his wings will grow back without any problem. So, anything extra can be for any hero in need!" she happily informs the girl with crescent moon eyes.
Hatsume responds with a wild disposition as she begins jumping and racing around the lab to inventory for needed supplies.
"Hatsuse, are you sure about this?" Iida asks her with upturned brows. "This is everything you own, and though I am grateful for your generosity—"
"Iida," Asami stops him, "I'd literally be dead without you," she reminds him. "This is the least I could do to pay you back." She turns away from him and over to the two Support Staff. "Just give me the information you need and I will start the transfer!" she says with a wide smile, seeing the excitement in their strides due to her help.
It was every cent that she was worth; all of it being money that she had earned on her own. This was something that she could give back with. Something that was her sacrifice, and seeing the joy it brought to everyone in this room made it worth it.
Present Day – Day 177
The walls around her begin crumbling down as a deep rumbling shakes Asami to her core. Her eyes widen as she watches the walls around her crash into decaying pieces. She begins to panic, knowing this type of Decay.
She lifts herself to her feet, running full speed down a hallway full of terrified fleeing civilians. She runs to Natsuo's door, banging wildly on the wooden frame to no answer. She begins thrusting her body against the frame, trying desperately to break it down.
"Natsuo!" she cries out in a panic. "Natsuo! Open up!" her visceral voice scratches at her throat as she tries desperately to call out to him.
She can feel the heat now. That sickening heat that engulfed her body.
"Natsuo!" her voice begs.
"Mom!" a childlike voice calls out with a frantic gut-wrenching cry.
Asami turns her head to see a small child—no older than seven—running towards her. At first, she doesn't think much of it until she really gets a look at the child. White tuffs of unruly hair greet her as bright purple eyes reach her own.
"Mom!" the child grabs her hand. "We gotta go! He's coming!"
Asami looks down at her stomach, frozen in a panic to see that she is not pregnant. She looks back up at the child with widened eyes as she begins running.
"Hurry!" the small child cries out. "He's almost here."
Asami hears a crash behind her and stops in her tracks to look behind. A wall of Decay is reaching them and she knows that there is no out running it. It's like that day in Deika City. She tried to run but in the end—
"Mom!" the cry comes out from behind her and she turns away from the wall of Decay and onto the small child. Her eyes reach the same tint of purple. There is a desperation in that stare, as if begging to understand.
"I'm right here!" she tries to reassure the small kid, but when she turns to face away from the Decay, she feels that nauseating heat once more.
Every hair on the back of her neck stands to attention as a sickness wracks through her body. Her eyes widen and she parts her lips to cry out to the kid, but her voice is muted behind the sound of whooshing blue flames engulfing the white-haired child.
Asami's heart stops beating as a constrictive pain devours her chest. Her eyes are left wide to captivate the image of sapphire flames crackling and ravaging around her.
Every inch of her body is cemented into the ground as she shakes at the horrid sight.
From the desolating flames that eat at everything around her, she can see the silhouette of a man approaching her.
Asami pleads with her body to run, or scream, or fight. But she is frozen and trapped, as from the flames emerges the most vile looking smile plastered on a melting patchworked face.
"Now that the little bastard's taken care of," his gruff voice sending shivers down her spine as he lights his left arm in a white-hot blaze. "It's your turn."
"NO!" Asami lifts herself from her bed, sheets soaked in a sweat from her night terror.
Her chest is lifting and falling with shallow breaths as she tries to get a hold of her beating heart. Asami places her hand on her chest, feeling the painful beating of her heart.
She can feel a fluttering below her navel as the child in her belly responds to the panic her body must be under. Asami places her other hand against her naval as if holding onto the small child growing inside of her.
"It's okay," she sooths the both of them. "It's okay," she repeats as she closes her eyes, unable to shake the look of primal satisfaction on his face when he emerged from those flames.
"It was just a dream."
"It was just a dream."
Present Day – Day 178
The following day Asami sits at a bench in the dining hall with a few of the students from Class 1A as they all eat with one another. She finds that sitting with the kids keeps her mind off of everything going on around her, especially the night terror that seems to plague her mind. Hawks is off on a mission with Jeanist and Endeavor, so she can't seek out solace with him, so she uses the uplifting demeanor of the students to keep her occupied.
She finds herself biting at her nailbeds as her mind is trapped in the nightmare from last night. She can't seem to shake the look in his icy blue stare as he lifted the lids of his eyes, snarling at her as he spoke. He was angry, yet absolutely elated by the idea of scorching his child in front of her eyes. The smile tearing at his staples made her want to wretch, and she tries to remind herself that it was just a dream. That Touya would never—
"I need to kill you first."
Will that be his plan? Will he come to kill her first? Burn her body at 2,000 degrees until her skin melts off of her bones and her bones turn to ash? Will he still want to kill her if he knows that she's pregnant with his child?
"Don't take it tomorrow."
He had told her that about her birth control. He wanted her to have his child. So, would he kill her if he knew she were pregnant? He turned his flames to her once. He wanted her dead after she moved to save Hawks, but would he still want her dead with his child growing in her belly?
She shakes her head of his memory, of his voice, of everything. The idea of him is breaking her down and killing her. But no matter how hard she tries, how desperately she fixates to the nightmare of him setting fire to their child, she cannot help the sickening feeling of her heart longing—begging—for him.
Asami turns to the students near her. She notices a girl with short brown hair and eyes to match glancing at her between bites of her soba. Every time Asami's eyes lift to meet her's, the girl shies away behind her hair in an attempt to hide that she was staring at Asami.
Eventually Asami catches the girl watching her, to which the shy girl smiles awkwardly at Asami and shimmies herself towards her.
"Hi, sorry for staring, but my name is Ochaco Uraraka; I am a classmate of Shouto Todoroki," the girl introduces herself in a sweet voice.
"Hi," Asami smiles at her with a small grin. "My name is Asami Hatsuse."
"Todoroki told me that you were captured by his brother from the League." The statement seems false when Asami hears it like that. She was his captive, but at some point, that had changed. Her mantra had been silenced in her head and she had told herself that she loved him; that she was his.
Asami's voice doesn't have much strength to respond, so she simply nods in reply.
Uraraka licks her lips as she struggles with whatever she wants to ask Asami. She eventually settles on, "Did you know Himiko Toga?"
The question strikes Asami off-guard and her lips part. "Yeah," she releases simply. "I mean," she shakes her head. "Yes, I spent a lot of time with her."
This brings a slight glimmer into her eyes as they fall into a saddened expression. Asami thinks back on one of the days that she spent with Toga and Twice at the mall. She remembered the blonde rambling on about Izuku and a girl that he seemed to like. She gleamed about the idea of the two girls being in love with the same boy, and mused about all the things they could have in common. Asami thought it more of silly teenage rantings, but as she looks onto Uraraka, she wonders if it went deeper than that.
"Do you know Himiko?" Asami asks her with a tilt of the head.
"Not really," Uraraka admits as though it were a despicable truth. Her hands grip onto the fabric of her pants under the table as she aimlessly fiddles with the material. "We had an encounter together during the war," the brunette begins. "There was something that she had said to me before she…" Uraraka stops herself before she continues with, "Before she reunited with the League."
Asami watches her, seeing that something is clearly affecting the girl, but she isn't sure how to voice her worries or concerns. Asami wonders if Uraraka even wants to speak to her, or is just speaking out loud about what must have bothered her that day.
"Did she hurt you?" Asami asks, hoping that she can help her find the words she's looking for by possibly prompting her.
The brunette shakes her head and frowns. "I… I told her that she… deserved what was coming to her," she says, choking on the confession as tears begin beading in her eyes. "There were tears in her eyes when I told her that. I… I didn't mean it in that moment, it was just… I was frustrated with the situation and I was trying to protect people; I didn't realize in that moment what she wanted from me."
Asami looks away from Uraraka and thinks back on all her interactions with the blonde girl. "I think there was a lot she wanted from people around her," Asami begins. "I treated her more like a silly love-struck teenager when she spoke to me, and less of a peer," she says as a sting of regret strikes her chest.
"She mentioned someone named Jin," Uraraka tells her.
Asami frowns at this, as the corners of her lips dig into her cheeks and making her dimples prominent. She's been plagued with visions of Jin dying in her arms, and Dabi burning her for choosing to save Hawks, but she hadn't thought of how much Himiko probably hates her for allowing Jin to die in the end.
"They were close," Asami tells her. "They indulged one another, neither one of them chastising the other for how their Quirk's affected their impulses." Asami sighs, "I tried to be the same, never really being bothered by the idea of Himiko and her desire to taste my blood. Hell, I even gave her some when she asked," Asami admits and Uraraka's eyes widen at the confession.
"It didn't worry me that she could use my blood, because I knew how much it meant to her just to have it," Asami shrugs, figuring that she shouldn't have, but she wanted to make the young girl happy.
"I think Himiko saw what happened to Jin and figured she was next." Asami curls her lips inward to stop them from shaking as she bites down on the flesh. "He…" her voice cracks. "He died in my arms… or because I let go of him."
Uraraka looks down at her hands remembering the weight of Sir Nighteye as he faded in her arms.
Asami looks over at the brunette, seeing that she's crying and she leans into her, placing her hand on her shoulder and rubbing it comfortingly.
"Don't beat yourself up over what was said to Himiko," Asami tells her firmly. "You are strong, and you were focused on saving people that day. If it weren't for your efforts, so many people would have been worse off."
"Does it…" Uraraka begins, whipping her nose. "Does it still haunt you?"
Asami looks away from her, seeing before her very eyes the drive to be a hero cracking in the young girl. She doesn't want to lie to her, but she doesn't want to see a promising young woman fall to her trauma.
"Sometimes, the best thing you can do is try your best," Asami tells her. "Not everyone wants to be saved in the end. There is only so much that you can do."
This doesn't seem to be the best advice, but it is all she can give. Asami hates herself every day for letting go of Jin, but she doesn't regret saving Hawks. She hates that Dabi refused to leave with her to the countryside, but she doesn't want to be away from everyone here.
There seems to be no way to win the game
"Asami."
And when she hears her name being called by that voice… that voice of all voices, she realizes that maybe her hell is just beginning.
She turns towards the voice, eyes focusing on the last person in the world that she wants to see right now.
"Dad?" her voice doesn't sound like her own as she calls out to her father. "Excuse me, Ururaka," she says under her breath as she lifts herself from the table and moves towards her father.
Her steps are stiff and robotic as she approaches the man who looks fat from pleased—though she's never really seen her father pleased.
When she is within reach of her father, he grabs for her, quickly snatching her and pulling her into a tight hug as he wraps his arms around Asami's shoulders. She's left completely frozen in his hold as that was the last thing she'd expect from her father.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" She questions him with a muffled voice as he presses her face into his shoulder.
Kenji pulls his daughter away from her and examines her from an arm's length. "I'm here to see you," he says to her as if her question were dumb.
"But why?"
He scoffs at her persistence, looking around to see if anyone is watching their exchange, clearly annoyed that she's not buying into this worried fatherly role he's suddenly trying to adopt.
"Asami it's not safe for you here," he begins in a matter-of-fact tone. "There is a war on the horizon."
Asami almost finds herself scoffing at the comment when they're clearly in the trenches of a war and not peering at one on the horizon.
She opens her mouth to ask again why he would come all this way he he speaks over her, answering her with the worst possible response.
"I've come all this way to take you from here and bring you back to America with me."
And with that, Asami steps out of her father's hold, wanting to be anywhere in the world but here.
A/N: A chapter on Dabi's birthday and he ain't even in it!
Thank you all for the support! The changes I mentioned in the intro is the connection between Nagant and Hawks. They hadn't technically met in the manga, but here they are going to have a past together.
And yes, we will have a full Nagant and Hawks showdown! So be ready for it!
I hope you're excited for it! Let me know what you think!