On the way there, Satoko told Hawks she wanted to learn more about All For One. Leaving out Shigaraki's past part of the equation to why she even wanted to know. They had finally arrived at UA.
Hawks opened up a door where All Might was at. "'Ello. Hate to interrupt, but I brought someone who wanted to talk to you."
"Oh! I recognize you." All Might smiled from where he was sitting on a couch. There was a green-haired boy with freckles across from him on a little stool. "Is something the matter?"
Satoko walked in as Hawks shuts the door behind her. Her eyes blazed while she was asking this question. "Can you tell me all you know about All For One?"
Hawks grabbed a chair and chilled out on it so he wouldn't interrupt.
"Uh, Hawks...!" Izuku started nervously. "This is a conversation that should probably just be kept between a few people-"
All Might waved his hands around with a nervous smile. "Young Midoriya, calm down." He relaxed a bit. "Although, I do think it's best if you leave, Hawks. My apologies. There are some things about All for One that still need to be kept secret."
Hawks raised an eyebrow. "Interesting you're telling this lady you barely know a secret." He shrugged as Satoko glared at him.
"No worries, I'll leave." He got up while waving his hand as he walked away. He halted and looked towards Satoko. "I'll be around to leave with you afterwards."
"Just go already." Satoko sighed. She would hate it if he would just be flirting with her in front of them.
With a lopsided grin, Hawks left the room. Satoko looked at All Might, puzzled.
"He has a point. Why would you be telling me such sensitive information?" She pondered.
All Might sighed. "I need to ask you a question first. If you know too much then you may already be in danger. If that's the case, I may as well tell you the whole truth. So...how much do you know?"
Izuku watched in surprise. (Could she have some sort of connection to All for One?)
"I..." She halted her words. Squeezing her hands together, she thought about her words carefully. "I know about someone's past involving him, but I don't feel obliged to share it. It isn't my place, but I feel like he is using this person. And possibly others."
Her nose crinkled as her eyes became firm. "If I have to cross paths with All For One, I want to be able to reveal that truth more. It's hard to work with information when I don't have any proof to work with."
"I see. It's important that you understand the danger your friend is in. The danger that you could be in for continuing to see this person." He sat back in the couch, relaxing more. "I don't know the details though, so I understand that it might not be that simple."
"As for your request..." He nodded towards Izuku. "Would you like to tell her more about it?"
Izuku nodded excitedly. He started to ramble about the past of All for One and how the quirk came to be. Despite All Might's warning, Izuku lost control of what he was saying and spilled the origin story of One for All as well.
"That's quite enough, boy," All Might interrupted.
Izuku froze. "I'm sorry, All Might! I got too invested in my explanation and didn't think logically!"
As he went off muttering again, All Might just shook his head and chuckled. He had an obvious fondness for Izuku that surpassed that of a mentor and student. It was more like how a father would act towards his son.
"A sinister man that steals quirks..." She shuddered at the thought. It became clearer that he was using Shigaraki. The League of Villains as a whole possibly.
The fact that All For One's in jail too... Shigaraki must be planning to take him out of there. She can't really tell what was going on.
"This is really helpful... I'm not sure what I can possibly do." Her eyes darted towards them. It wouldn't be wise to tell them that she isn't fond of heroes. Especially after this information. "Rest assured, I won't do anything vile with knowing this. I'm not malevolent as such."
Her eyes lowered as if she was looking towards something dire ahead. "Never...will I be like that."
(She's so serious about her morals. It kind of reminds me of pro heroes. But of course, everyone has their own path that they want to go on in life.) Izuku smiled. "Is there anything that we can do to help?"
Satoko shook her head. "No. There's nothing else. Thanks."
She wavered from speaking anymore. Pondered, if she should give a slight warning to the attack. But without being that obvious.
While getting up, she had her back towards them. Her mouth signaled 'be cautious soon.'
With that, she waved and left the room.
"I hope that she's ok..." Izuku said. He looked towards All Might. "It seems like she might have been dealing with something alone."
All Might nodded. "It did seem that way. I wish that I could help with whatever it is, but...I'm pretty much unable to do much of anything now."
All Might was so strong when it came to losing his power. He just accepted it like it was nothing, due to the fact that he already knew what was happening to him. It did seem to frustrate him sometimes that he couldn't save people like he used to anymore though.
"All Might..." Izuku looked at him sadly.
All Might's frown turned back into a smile. He held up one hand dismissively. "It's alright, Young Midoriya! I am still here. I'll continue to help you from behind the scenes."
Izuku smiled. He nodded happily. "Right!"
Stepping out of the door, she was greeted by Hawks. His sudden appearance made her almost punch him in the face. The blow of her fist moved his hair a little. He stared at her hand with a grin.
"Ah, I see. Hello to you too, sunset." He waved.
"Sunset?" She moved her hand away.
"Your hair. It reminds me of the sky." His tone sounded genuine.
She snorted at that. "Ew. Stop. You're making me cringe."
"Darn." He followed after her. "Did you get your answer from All Might?"
"Yeah, but I'm not one to give others secrets." She noted. "Why are you following me like a chicken?"
"Aw. We have nicknames for each other." He laughed. "But I like that about you. You lie about things, but never will you give away secrets."
"You didn't answer me." She grumbled.
His feet stopped. Looking up towards her back, he saw the scar on her shoulder. His eyes squinted. He didn't like the idea of her going back to the villains. "You're returning to them, aren't you?"
She halted too. Without turning, she nodded. "What choice do I have?"
Hawks stepped forward as he spoke. "They'll hurt you again. Why not I take you to the police so you can be guarded by them? You can have an actual home for yourself."
She flinched at that. That really sounds nice to having a home. Shaking her head, she looked over her shoulder. "Police haven't cared for me before."
Hearing that made him think a little bit. Are poor people really treated like that? Without a hero's word to help them.
"Besides. I want to save the villains." Her voice interrupted his thoughts. Bewildered at to what she even said, he stared at her questionably.
"I'm sorry, but what?" He scratched his head. "I thought I heard you say 'save' and 'villains' in the same sentence."
"Well..."
She explained what her thoughts are about it. Of course, leaving out everyone else's personal details. He didn't interrupt her. Nor laugh.
His expression was hard to even read from this.
"Huh. You know, I never thought of it that way." Hawks replied. Then he shook his head. "That doesn't give an excuse to act like that."
"Same can go for heroes." She retorted. "Why are you doing what you're doing with them then? What's YOUR connection? Only fair since I told you my thoughts on the matter."
He could easily lie, but he didn't want to. The way she gazed at him. This woman. He didn't want to kill her trust. If she had any in him at all.
"Ok." He caved in. "I'll tell you."
He told her about being a spy. Those details of why he's doing it. Everything. It's strange to why he could easily tell her this.
Well, if he hadn't, would she appear like this to him again?
"You don't have to betray them." She expressed.
That made Hawks put on a serious expression. To not have him misunderstand further, she continued. "There's hardly any true heroes out there. Majority of them are just in it for fame or money. But what if we could do something? Save these people? Make society better and not hiding the truth in the shadows?"
Hawks studied her face and body language as she spoke. He could tell some parts, there was a little trembling. Like she was pouring her heart, but she was scared.
(Scared of...me..?)
That thought alone made him feel for her.
She kept going. "We can prevent countless deaths. End of abusive power. Have REAL justice, but if you aren't with me then... I have judged wrongly once again. You need to let me go back with them in order for me to figure this out."
Her words are powerful. He felt a bit torn. It made sense, but didn't. He was worried about his own loyalties.
But...
Reluctantly....
"Ok." He agreed. "I won't stop you from going back. I'll think about what you said."
Satoko started walking ahead. Hawks hated seeing her leave him. He hated the fact she might be too heartfelt for her own good to try to save someone not able to be saved.
Or wanting to be. Not everyone can change like that. Villains are always villains in his eyes.
(I don't want her to suffer.)
"One day!" He called out to her.
(I want to see her smile.)
"I'll be the one saving you!"
(Because...)
"If you think everyone needs to be saved, someone has to save heroes when they need it too!"
Hawks thought he saw a small smile. Unmoving, he stood there. Until she was completely gone from his sight.
He doesn't want to control what she does, but he felt extremely upset.
(Please, come back.)
...
Dabi was standing in the living room while looking at the door. Even though they had most of the windows covered, it was clear that a new day had started. The sound of cars driving by and people chattering about as they went on their way was enough to tell what time of day it was.
Twice returned to the living room with a piece of melon bread in hand. "Are you getting worried?"
Dabi forced a smile. "No. She'll be back before we need to leave."
He looked over at Twice. He wasn't wearing his usual costume that covered his face up. Whenever he went without it, things would usually start calm. It would always result in him breaking down at some point though. They couldn't deal with that on such an important day.
"Put your mask on," Dabi scolded. "We can't put up with one of your meltdowns today."
"Is this your way of helping me?" Twice asked.
"No, it's not."
Well, the second Twice was probably right this time. Dabi didn't really care for anything other than himself and his goals. Maybe Satoko. That was pushing it.
"Of course not," Dabi confirmed. "We have something to do, so get going. And don't wake Shigaraki up yet. If he sees that Takahashi isn't here, he'll lose his mind."
Dabi sighed as Twice ran off. Despite what he told Twice, he was worried about if Satoko would come back. He had never felt worried for anyone before. Perhaps Satoko was making him turn soft.
He told himself over and over again that he was just worried because he needed her for the plan. He told himself that it's not a big deal because he couldn't possibly be worried for someone else's well-being. Deep down, though, he knew that there was a big difference between his conscious thoughts and his feelings.
He hated feeling confused. His emotions used to be easy to read. He hated someone? He killed them. And, if he was being honest, he kind of hated everyone. The only exception was the League of Villains, and that was because he was using them.
Right?
He remembered the look on Satoko's face when she said that it was sad no one cared for Shigaraki. He still didn't necessarily care for Shigaraki, but maybe he cared that Satoko cared about Shigaraki.
He hated that even more.
Finally, the door opened. Satoko walked in.
"Where were you?" Dabi asked. "Do I need to kill Hawks for trying to take you away from us again?"
"No." She hissed. "What I do or where I go, should not matter.
I still came back, didn't I?"
(Crap.) She was hoping no one would notice. That was wishful thinking. This information she has, she doesn't want to give out just yet. "As for Hawks, he didn't do anything."
"He's always doing something. Here lately, that something seems to involve you a lot." His eyes appeared as though they were glowing. "You like him or something? You're one of us now. You can't go spending time with heroes."
"Like him?" She wasn't sure how to answer. But the next statement was a lie. Or was it? She wasn't sure. "No. I don't. Why would I?"
"Why do you go see him then?" She retorted. "You're spending time with him too."
"Because I can't kill him yet. He can give us information." Dabi didn't hesitate. "He is practically digging his own grave. I know that he is a spy. I seem to be the only one who notices though. I let him have some information, he lets me have some, and then he dies in the end. He doesn't know that I know, so I can catch him off guard."
He gently touched a few strands of her hair, running it along his fingers. "Don't tell him that I know. He might just steal you again. What would you do then? Abandon the people who helped you train your powers? Besides, it's better that he dies soon instead of letting him dirty his hands even more. I'm doing your little bird friend a favor."
His expression was unreadable. There was something hidden behind those eyes. Something that was so gentle and yet so threatening in the way that he touched her hair. Was he trying to manipulate her? Probably. But just how much of it was truth and how much was a lie?
It made her freeze. She couldn't tell whether her heart pounding was from anxiety or something else. Chills went down her spine, but she couldn't comprehend what that was either. Without flinching to the touch of his coarse skin, she grabbed his wrist for him to stop.
It was strange, she couldn't even look him in his eyes. "I don't want anyone to die. It doesn't matter who. As for telling him, I'm not that type of person who betrays anyone who helps me. Abandoning someone is not something I do. I'm used to being left behind though."
That was a lie. She wasn't used to it. That feeling of self-hatred was trying to resurface. Was doing this the right choice? "I'm no one's property either."
"Aren't you happy that someone wants you at least? Must be better than being alone." He didn't give her a chance to respond. He moved his hand away from her. "Well, it doesn't really matter. It's almost time to go."
(Someone who wants me?) She stayed quiet thinking about it. Subconsciously, her hand traced where he touched her hair. "We're doing that today?" Still not meeting his eyes, she asked.
"As soon as everyone else wakes up," he replied. "It shouldn't be long now."
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