Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 71

By the time we got to the League's headquarters, it was already past four in the morning, and although I'd already had that short nap, I was out the second I hit the comfortable mattress in my now-homely room. I was blessed with another dreamless night - perhaps the terrors that had left me horrified and breathless were finally leaving me behind, or maybe the knowledge that my tormentor was dead was enough to satisfy the fear. Either way, it didn't matter. It provided me with the chance to actually rest, and I was more than thankful  for that, even if the cost had been getting my hands covered in blood. 

When I woke up, the first thing I did was trudge to the washroom and take one of the longest showers in history. I hadn't noticed last night, but I was drenched in the smell of smoke, and some of my hair was matted with blood, though I didn't know who it belonged to. Only when I felt like I'd scrubbed off a layer of my skin did I pull on a fresh set of clothing and attempt to pat my hair dry before heading down to the mess hall through the now-memorized hallways. As soon as I stepped through, Toga gave me a look that promised nothing good, only to be elbowed in the side by Yuri, and I shook my head as a grin slightly spread over my face. Those two really were something, weren't they?

I decided to ignore Toga's pointed stare and instead went straight for the kitchen, where my coffee buddy Sara was already brewing a pot that she graciously offered to share with me. With the scorching hot cup in one hand and a pop tart that I stole from another villain in the other, I quickly got back to the main room before the complaining began. Dabi, for the first time in several days, was nowhere in sight, so I decided to bless Toga and Yuri with my presence instead.

"Morning," I smirked, ignoring the fact that they were busy with one another as I slid onto the bench beside them. What had Dabi said about them? They were too busy shoving their tongues down each other's throats to notice the world around them? Well, he definitely wasn't wrong. Only when Shigaraki appeared in all of his wrinkly glory, without the hands covering him this time, did the two break apart in favor of listening to the older villain's briefing of yesterday's mission. Shiggy was more than satisfied with how much we'd accomplished, and praised me directly for keeping the main goal of getting the files in sight rather than getting distracted with the temptation of tearing the agency down.

He then pulled out a projector that aimed at one of the walls - had that always been there? - and proceeded to replay some parts of yesterday's news. From the looks of it, any and all news channels were focused on one thing - the burned down agency and the criminals who did it. Something that could come off as a proud smile stretched over my face as the news anchor talked about just how bad the damage was. The entire burning was charred and destroyed, with not even the slightest chance of saving it being possible, and among the hundreds of workers, seven met an untimely death. This should've made me feel bad, should've made me regret going on the mission, but somehow, it almost felt comforting. These were the people that sat back and watched idly a I received the hate of millions. They deserved this death.

The clip switched again, this time to a different station, and the rushed usually-neat handwriting of the note I left at Hawks' appeared on screen, clear as day for everyone to see. The reporter said something about a new villain that went by the name Tankei and how they posed a massive threat to any and all heroes because oh dear! It seems Tankei had inside information on not only the agency, but about Hawks, too! A truly horrible occurrence, that's for sure. After all, what could be worse than a villain that has all the experience of a hero? Surely that was the worst possible scenario, since not only did the hero become a traitor, but they know all the small details that a typical villain would never be able to grasp. Now I understood why both Shigaraki and Dabi had referred to me as 'valuable' before, because that's exactly what I was.

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I realized that the reporter didn't know who Tankei was, and yet, I was more than sure that Hawks knew it was me. He did have brain cells, after all. He just chose not to use them most of the time. And yet, he hadn't given away my identity. Perhaps it's because he'd need to admit he'd been close with me - with Vizion, the pro hero that turned out to be not so heroic - and that would endlessly stain his reputation of being the youngest hero to be this successful. Yes, that had to be it. He was keeping my identity secret for his own selfish benefit, to ensure that he didn't get the same hate that I did. It'd be a disaster for him to reveal he'd been close to me, close enough to recognize who I was just from my handwriting.

I decided to ignore this unwelcomed realization in favor of bathing in the attention of the other villains, who were all staring at me with a mix of awe and jealousy. It's not everyone that makes it on the headline of the news with their very first mission. Then again, Dabi and I had gone a little overboard, what with the breaking and entering and threats that we'd left in the apartment. Oh, well. It wasn't like I could just go back and unthreaten him. I'd just have to settle for being the villain of the news for the next few days, and, to be frank, that sounded quite pleasant.

The next week was filled with poring over the files to find every single piece of useful information that the papers provided, and I made the dutiful choice of changing my own record from being that of a hero to one of a villain. By the time the last report was read through, my notebook of information that I'd been so proud of looked like an under researched child's story. There  must've been enough information in those files to write a book over one thousand pages long, and I was more than grateful for the coffee breaks and sparring matches with Toga that managed to keep me sane. My time away from the agency had made me forget just how tedious paperwork was, and the long hours that I spent reading over the files was more than enough to remind me.

Once that was finally out of the way, Shigaraki locked himself away as he began forming some new plan, occasionally calling in a few villains to consult with. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious what they were talking about, but I distracted myself from it with the seemingly endless training sessions with Toga that I'd grown used to. Although I hadn't noticed at first, both she and I were definitely improving, to the point where Dabi walked in on us sparring one time and had said he literally couldn't see our blades from how fast we were moving. It was a wonder how neither one of us had been impaled.

The time would've dragged by slowly if it wasn't for the constant 'missions' that Dabi dragged me along for. At first, I'd been hesitant about it - after all, the missions hadn't been given by Shigaraki, so maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to wander outside. The doubt, however, was gone the second Dabi and I broke into a high-security jewelry store just for the sake of feeling the rush of adrenaline. The screams and wails of the people were almost comforting, and the entire time we'd terrorized them, I wore the smile of a madman. The public had hated me before for no reason other than the fact that I wasn't keen on fighting the same way that other heroes did. Now, I'd give them a real reason to hate me.

I'd be lying if I said that the look of terror in the eyes of the people didn't make me feel good in the cruelest way. If before, their hate had made me want to curl up into a ball and slowly die, that same hatred fueled me now as I embraced it. That's the difference between a hero and a villain. A hero is only a hero when they're loved by all. A villain can be a villain no matter what others say about them. That must be why being a hero had been wrong for me. That must be why being a villain seemed to fit me so much better. That must be why, when the receptionist of a bank that Dabi and I had decided to ambush out of pure boredom begged me for mercy, I spat in their face and brushed my dagger over their neck, my eyes glowing with a sick happiness that only a psychopath would feel.