Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 29

"Well, you heard it now. Satisfied?" When Dabi nodded, I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest, the tip of the kitchen knife poking at the flesh of my wrist. It didn't look like I'd need the weapon, especially now that I got my dagger back, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. "Good. Now, tell me. Where are the headquarters of the League located?"

"My, my, would you look at the time!" Dabi pulled out a phone from his pocket, flashing the screen at me, and I narrowed my eyes a little at the sudden brightness. In large white print, the numbers 2:57 shone up at me, and in the darkness of the night, they almost blinded me. How had an hour already passed? It felt like we were only talking for a few minutes... "It seems you only have three minutes before I have to go. You sure that's what you want to ask for your last question?"

"Stop stalling and answer already." I didn't know this had a time limit. I should've asked this earlier instead of focusing so much on myself...

"Ah, but you see, I can't do that. Telling you the location of the League would be like handing you an immediate win, and that doesn't really play in my favor." I narrowed my eyes at Dabi, annoyed beyond belief, but he just shrugged. "Sorry, princess."

"I told you valuable information about the agency, and you already know where it's located," I snarled, dagger gleaming to his neck as I lunged forward, getting more desperate for him to answer as the seconds passed by even faster than usual, "so stop being an asshole and tell me."

The number on the screen flashed, the fifty seven now a fifty eight. "The clock is ticking. You sure you want to waste your time with this instead of just asking something else?"

"Dabi, answer the question, or I swear to any existing god that I'll put the dagger through your neck."

"Feisty, aren't we?" Dabi put his hand on my arm, pulling it away from his neck, and I flinched slightly, remembering how he'd done the same before leaving me with a burn so deep that it scorched right through my skin and got to my muscle. To my surprise, Dabi noticed and immediately let go, and I couldn't help but think of how pathetically sad it was that I, a hero in top shape thanks to the nurses earlier, was scared of a still heavily-injured villain that had hundreds of cuts, both deep and shallow, completely covering his body. Somehow, even though he'd put not only me but countless citizens in stupefying danger, it didn't seem quite fair that he'd ended up being the only one still hurt. 

It was like my mind was fighting itself - the half that had led me for years that roared for revenge was more than happy that he was suffering so much. After all he did, he deserved the pain. The other part, however, the one that awoke less than a day ago and realized that maybe the ruthless rage I always relied on wasn't quite right, almost felt sympathetic for the villain. Surely no one would actually want to burn down entire neighborhoods and hurt innocent people, right? Surely he had some other explanation for it. I couldn't just assume that just because he did bad things, he actually wanted to do them. No one could be sadistic enough to want to see the entire world burn down, right?

"Time's up, princess," Dabi whispered, and my eyes went back into focus. It was three in the morning sharp, and the muscles in my arms went slack, the dagger almost falling to the ground. Shit. I didn't get any answers, and couldn't even ask him anything else. All I have now is useless information to satisfy my own stupid curiosity. I stood still, completely defeated. I can't even focus anymore. I need to sort out my mind soon, before these two halves make me go insane. God, I was pathetic. At this rate, I wouldn't even be able to get through a day without having an identity crisis at least three times. "You okay? You haven't tried to chop off my arm or force more answers out of me for almost two minutes now. Pretty uncharacteristic of you, if I do say so myself."

I can't tell if he genuinely cares or if he's making fun of me again. "Sorry, I was just imaging all of the ways I could murder you right now," I shot back, not willing to let him get away with the dig at me.

"And she's back! You had me worried there for a sec, princess," he leered, glancing at me over his shoulder as he started to walk away. I can have an identity crisis later. Right now, I'm definitely feeling vengeful. "Now remember, this meeting stays between us. You tell anyone about it, and your little bird boy will be the one who pays, alright?"

"If you lay a finger on him, I'll find you myself and make sure you die the most painful death, got it?" This got Dabi's attention, and he stopped in his tracks, turning back to me, one eyebrow raised. 

"I don't doubt it. I'll contact you again soon enough. If you choose to ignore it, I might just let it slip to the media that the already-shamed hero Vizion has been seen talking freely with a villain. I wonder how that would play out, don't you?" All I could do was seethe silently, already regretting what I'd gotten myself into. He started walking away once again, throwing me one last look. "Oh, and Kira, I'm sorry about your arm, by the way. I didn't mean to go that far."

I glanced down at my left arm, the skin perfectly smooth - no one could have guessed that only hours ago, there'd been a burn so bad that it could've ended up giving me permanent muscle damage. I gazed up once again, eyes focused on Dabi's shrinking form as he got closer and closer to the railing of the roof, only now registering that he'd actually used my name instead of that stupid nickname. "Yeah... I'm sorry, too." His head dipped slightly, showing that he'd heard me, and then he pulled himself over the railing, standing on the edge of the roof, and my eyes widened with realization. "Dabi, wait!"

I rushed to the railing, but I was too late. He already stepped off, hurtling towards the ground at absurd speeds, and all I could do was clutch the metal rods until my knuckles turned white, the kitchen knife starting to cut slightly into my wrist as I watched him fall. Just before he hit the ground, he held out his hands, sending two bursts of blue flames that broke his fall, and he landed safely on his feet. I couldn't help but sigh in relief - sure, he was a villain, but watching someone fall from several stories wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. Dabi glanced up, spotting me still at the rooftop looking down at him, and even from so far above, I saw that unmistakable smile that was no doubt accompanied by gleaming eyes. He held his pointer and middle finger to his temple and then brought them out, almost as if he were saluting to me, before turning around and taking to the streets, leaving me still processing his actions. 

I stood alone on the roof for a few minutes, staring off into the direction that Dabi had gone in even after he was long gone. I didn't even understand how I felt at this point. One second, I'd be worried about his safety and being sympathetic over the very same injuries that I'd given him, but the next, I wanted to rip his throat out. Was it just the confused part of me trying to make me less cold-blooded?  If that was it, then it hardly seemed to be working. All it did was make me swing from one perspective to the other in mere seconds as my mind screamed for revenge and punishment while my heart cried for mercy. It wasn't fair. Why now, of all times, did this stupid pity decide to appear?

Only when a breeze blew, making me shiver slightly in the oversized flannel, did I turn away from the railing and street below me and headed back to the trapdoor that would lead me back into the apartment complex. With the knife still in my sleeve, I barely even noticed that my skin was wet and slick with blood from where the blade had cut through, but the stinging pain was welcoming. It helped me focus a little, and forced the lenience out of me, instead bringing back my usual state. If some physical pain was enough to keep the mental pain out, then I'd gladly walk the rest of my days covered in cuts and bleeding out. 

I trudged down the stairs and got back to the hall of the apartment building, tucking the dagger into the waistband of my pants and hiding it with the flannel just in case someone would see me. Approaching the door to Keigo's and mine apartment, I dug the key out of my pocket and slipped it quietly into the lock, moving as silently as possible to make sure that I didn't wake up Keigo. I slipped back into the apartment, locking the door behind me and walking to where I'd hid my supplies on the couch in the living room before only to find a half-asleep Keigo waiting for me.