Back at the League of Villains's Headquarters, Hawks was already waiting inside there for their arrival. He knew he couldn't be seen accompanying them so he went separately. There was first aid equipment he had in his one hand. He saw Satoko was making herself walk, despite Dabi trying to help her. She really was a stubborn woman. Of course, Dabi was extremely peeved to even see Hawks there.
Hawks walked forward towards Satoko. "I'll be the one taking care of her wounds. You'll just make it worse for her, Dabi." He glared at Dabi.
Dabi wouldn't give up so easily. He didn't want Hawks anywhere near Satoko. "I'll handle it. She belongs to me now."
Satoko lightly smacked Dabi's hand away from her. She knew he was also hurt too so she didn't want to give an impact on him. She grumbled. "I don't belong to anyone. And I can take care of it myself."
Her eyes averted away from him. "You take care of yourself too." That thumping in her heart wouldn't go away. She was thinking about earlier. She made Dabi let go of her since it was getting too much.
Dabi looked frustrated at her words. Satoko clearly had the heart of a hero still. After everything that she had been through; how did she manage to stay in that state of mind?
She was too kind to fit into either category. She didn't seem to want revenge. She couldn't even handle seeing Dabi almost kill someone that she didn't even know. Heck, she took a bullet for him without knowing his name.
Then again, she hated heroes. She saw the corruption, recognized it, and wanted to change it.
She was different than anyone that Dabi had ever met. She didn't fit in anywhere because she had such strong morals. She didn't bend or change to satisfy others. People like that don't fit in, because human beings are cruel enough to hate anyone who is different.
It made him feel jealous. So jealous. How could someone live a life like that and then end up surrounded by people who need them?
"I will," he grumbled. "I still have a goal to accomplish, so I won't let myself die yet."
Satoko grabbed the first aid from Hawks. Avoiding eye contact with him, she went to go sit on the couch. She started to put lotion on her burns, trying not to hiss from the pain.
(I need to treat myself before I could help others.) Still thinking of others regardless how she actually feels. But she knows better than to push herself. It would hinder her to helping treat anyone else and might make their own wounds worse for infections. Her fingers are kind of blistered from burning them earlier too.
Dabi quietly took some supplies as well. He didn't stay near her though. He moved to another area to tend to his own wounds.
Shigaraki sat on the couch next to Satoko. "I can't believe that we failed again!" He was digging his fingernails into his neck again.
Satoko glimpsed over towards Shigaraki. The marks on his neck were noticeable. Self-harming himself? Not only that, it was really hard.
"Stop doing that." She stopped what she was doing for a moment. "You're making it worse!"
Shigaraki turned his head away from her. "Leave me alone. I'm so frustrated! How does this always happen?!"
He never learned any healthy ways to deal with his emotions. The only thing that he knew was to inflict pain as a release.
"No, I won't leave you alone." She finished taking care of the burns on her fingers by bandaging them. (Whatever, I can take care of the rest of my wounds later.)
Ignoring the pain, she took a q-tip from her share of supplies. Applying ointment onto it, she motioned herself towards him. "Let me put this on your neck. It'll help heal it. You shouldn't do that to yourself. It's sad to see, actually..."
Shigaraki didn't budge to move towards her. "Why do you care? No one has cared before. Why you?"
"Because that's just who I am." She answered. "I care about you, so deal with it. Now, can I? I don't want to lose my arm over this." She joked with a coughing fit.
"Fine. Do whatever." Shigaraki moved his hand away from his neck. He put his hand down and grabbed it with his other hand as though making sure that it didn't get anywhere near Satoko.
Delicately, she applied the ointment onto his neck. It felt very cool. Her eyes focused as she put it on. Despite being tired and being wounded, she kept giving him treatment. She was close, but not too close to him.
Shigaraki wasn't used to that type of treatment. She was so gentle and caring. Never once did she try to hurt him. He was strangely quiet as she did that. He was actually starting to relax.
He rested back against the couch. Never had anyone treated him with such care. Somehow, he knew that she was being genuine.
"Done." Finishing up, she moved her hand away. She's glad he cooperated.
"Now don't let my treatment go to waste." She nagged kindly. "Or I'll get mad."
"I'm not promising anything," he replied. "I'll do what I want."
His voice didn't sound as angry as one would expect when he said that. It was almost like he was teasing her. But he had to remind himself of something. (Don't get too comfortable around her. We're just in the same league, so we have to work together.)
A thought that had never even crossed his mind finally occurred to him. There was the possibility that they would fail. The league might be temporary. Satoko might be temporary.
"I'm not promising anything," he replied. "I'll do what I want."
His voice didn't sound as angry as one would expect when he said that. It was almost like he was teasing her. But he had to remind himself of something. (Don't get too comfortable around her. We're just in the same league, so we have to work together.)
A thought that had never even crossed his mind finally occurred to him. There was the possibility that they would fail. The league might be temporary. Satoko might be temporary.
"If you scratch your neck again, I'll just do the same to myself too." She snorted. "Since my throat is so important anyways."
"Don't you dare," Shigaraki grumbled. "We need you. YOU can't be hurt. Especially not your neck."
"Then don't you dare either." Satoko remarked. "Can't win this one, huh?"
"I guess not." He turned so that his back was facing her. His hand went up to his neck out of instinct, but he quickly moved it away again.
Meanwhile, Dabi was glaring at Hawks. "She's staying here. Now leave. I know that you're working with us, but I can still kill you if I want to."
"Oh yeah? Let me see you try it then." Hawks leered right back at him. A vein popped out of his neck due to him suppressing his anger. He had to keep reminding himself that he still has a job to do. "You're lucky that I'm holding everything back right now, but I do keep my promises."
The last part was a lie. He knows this act won't be forever. Satoko's situation is making this very hard for him to think straight. He's a bit frustrated that he's even like this.
"How about you stop holding everything back?" Dabi's voice sounded threatening. "Why would you need to if you aren't hiding anything?"
His expression was unchanging; serious and cold. There was no hidden mercy. He was dead serious about everything that he was saying. "You're not hiding things from me, are you? From us? We were generous enough to let your sorry self join. Don't tell me you're going to turn on us now. And Takahashi? She is fitting in fine. She doesn't need to be rescued by the likes of you. We're taking care of her, so stop trying to take her away."
"I'm holding back because I'm keeping my word to work with you all." Hawks argued. "I'm not turning on you, but I think- No. I KNOW Sunset would be better in my care."
There he goes with that nickname again.
"Taking care of her?! Every time I see her, she's in this terrible state. The most beat up out of ALL of you. You're to blame for getting her this way. You're going to get her killed at this rate!" Hawks practically hissed. He couldn't really contain his anger with his voice raising. He was livid.
Dabi scoffed at the nickname. It was so disgustingly sweet. The way he said it was full of care and compassion too. It made Dabi's anger rise as well as Hawks's. "What's it to you? Just go back to spying on the heroes."
Hawks put on a fake smile. It looked also a bit aggressive. "Since I'm so good at exchanging info with you. I'll tell you. I like her. I CARE for her unlike you do, 'buddy.'"
He was surprised he was even letting these words come out himself. His words are obviously making things worse for convincing Dabi. Maybe it was to spite him a bit.
Dabi's eyes had a look of pure hatred. He lowered his chin slightly. "Like her, huh? Then why don't you make it easier for her? We won't give up, so you might as well let her go. Keep her from being thrown around back and forth again. I'm sure she probably hated that."
"If she didn't come with me those other times, she would have died." Hawks angrily pointed out. "She would have been humiliated and not get what she needed for her feminine needs. I have the resources."
It was obvious that Hawks was unaware that Satoko has a quirk.
"The heroes will be after her now too." He continued. "I could hide her better. I treat her like a human. Not some kind of animal like you do."
"It's not like we're neglecting her needs or anything. We even got her stuff to take care of her throat when she lost her voice," Dabi argued. "If she needs more pads or whatever, we can get that for her too. So stop your worrying. It sounds to me like you just want her to yourself."
"I'm not convinced." Hawks retorted.
Satoko heard Dabi and Hawks yelling at each other in the other room. She sighed.
(This is annoying. Why can't anyone get along around here?) She didn't even finish giving herself treatment. With Shigaraki watching her at the corner of his eye, she got up to go defuse the argument.
It definitely was getting pretty heated. As Satoko was heading towards the other room, she felt a surge of dizziness.
The pain was widespread throughout her body. (I never took such a powerful hit like that before...)
Vision was starting to get blurry. Taking a step forward while seeing Dabi and Hawks into view, she was struggling to stay conscious.
"Knock it off-" Her voice trailed off. Everything was going black. A resounding thud made her presence near the room known. She had collapsed and fainted.
Shigaraki could hear the thud from the other room. He ran in the direction of the sound only to see Satoko collapsed onto the floor.
He felt an urge to reach out to help her. His hands twitched. (Don't scratch. Don't touch her.)
For the first time in a while, he didn't want to do something destructive. He actually wanted to help. But he couldn't.
He looked towards Dabi and Hawks. "Well?! Someone, help her up!"
Hawks didn't hesitate and moved quickly towards her. That feeling came again. Wanting to be close to her. Wanting her away from this awful place.
If it weren't for him being a spy, he would attack everyone here just to take her away.
Blue flames entered Hawks's vision. They weren't close enough to burn him this time, but he was forced to dodge. It caused his hold on Satoko to become clumsy.
Dabi slammed his foot into Hawks's shoulder as hard as he could, causing him to lose his balance. Dabi stabbed the heel of his foot into one of the hero's wings to pin him down. "There. That's your warning. Get out of here. I don't want to have to kill a member of the league."
Hawks gritted his teeth. He couldn't stand this.
But he won't grab her out of his arms. He didn't want to further her injuries. It looked like even her burn marks were bleeding.
Fists shaking to the side, he actually felt powerless for once. (I swear, after I'm done being a spy... This will end.)
Along with frustration, he felt a deep sorrow and ache. Without exchanging anymore words, he left.
Toga walks in afterwards. "What did I miss? Darn." She giggled like there was nothing wrong.
"Don't worry about it," Dabi stated. "We need to help take care of her wounds since she can't seem to do it by herself."
His words would typically be said in a more irritated tone. He seemed strangely calm though.
Shigaraki's breathing was uneven like he was in physical pain from not being able to do anything. He hated feeling helpless. "Pick her up. Now!"
"Calm down." Dabi glared at him "We aren't going to let her die."
"Oooh. It looks like she's bleeding." Toga giggled while peering at Satoko. She finds this rather fun. "She probably will die. Heehee! I want some of her blood. Don't want it to go to waste-"
"Shut up! She's not going to die." Dabi knelt down beside Satoko. He gently ran the back of his hand along her cheek. "She's breathing fine, mostly. Both of you are useless."
Those burns of hers...when he looked at her, he saw a bit of himself only for a moment. Burns were no joke. They were excruciatingly painful.
He could remember collapsing onto his knees when he was a child. He would hunch over and scream from the pain until his lungs wouldn't support him anymore. His sobs and wails could be heard throughout the entire house. Sometimes, Endeavor would cause further harm to his frail body just to get him to stop pushing himself.
If he saw Shoto in that state of distress, he would be happy. He would enjoy each of his screams and cries for someone- anyone- to help him. The thought even made the numbness in Dabi's heart start to fade away into a sick version of joy and satisfaction. He would feel accomplished.
Yet seeing Satoko with burns on her body didn't make him feel any better. It didn't make the cloud of emptiness go away any faster. If anything, it made him angry.
Satoko was burnt because of Endeavor. Just like Dabi was as a child. Shoto was probably burnt by Endeavor many times in the past too though. Just like Dabi was as a child.
But, for some reason, he resented one and was taking care of the other.
"I don't know if you realize this," Shigaraki started, "But I could kill her if I try to help."
"That would be so cute if you helped her, Tomura!" Toga got all giddy. "I can see her flesh melting in your hands. The beautiful display of blood!"
Shigaraki glared at her. "If I decay anyone, it will be you. I'm not going to harm Takahashi."
"Can you have her do something to get her out of here?" Dabi grumbled.
"I can." Shigaraki motioned to the door. "Go get some nicer blankets for her and something to eat."
"That's no fun." Toga pouted and left to do what she was told.
...
Stirring in her sleep, Satoko felt a twinge of pain. It wasn't as bad prior to what she felt earlier.
There was a fresh scent of green tea filling the air. Opening her eyes, she saw hot tea on the table in front of her.
She was covered with a blanket on the couch. To her surprise, all her wounds were bandaged and treated with care.
Adjusting herself to sit up, she noticed Shigaraki was there. Dabi was on the other end of the room.
"I didn't think you'd be the types to treat your captives with gifts this way." She awkwardly commented after taking a sip of the tea. She didn't know how to actually feel. This was strange and all new.
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