Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 84

The quiet of the alley suddenly erupted with the sound of quirks activating all at once, and a rush of villains all simultaneously charging down at Endeavor. I should've been there, too. But I wasn't. I couldn't see straight, I couldn't think straight, hell, I was surprised that I'd managed to run without falling flat on my face, but I sprinted along the rooftops to where I knew I'd find Hawks. I'd seen just enough of the feather to place his approximate location, and I'd sooner die than let him get away with what he'd done.

He was a monster. A cruel, horrible monster. He of all people should've known not to take someone away from me, and yet, he destroyed Toga as if she was nothing. He'd murdered her in cold blood. He'd murdered sweet, young Toga, who made sure sure to check in on everyone once in a while and offered her unconditional affection, no matter who it  was directed to. He'd murdered Toga, who's presence I'd gotten used to as if she was the bratty younger sister I'd never had the pleasure of having. He knew what I'd been through, and he slaughtered her as if she were simply an obstacle in his path. If I thought I was the monster, I was wrong. It was him who was the monster. It was him all along.

It was only thanks to instinct that I was able to dodge the next two feathers that flew straight at me, but at least now I knew where exactly they were coming from. I couldn't save Toga now - I saw with my own two eyes how the sharp feather pierced right through her heart. No one could survive that. I couldn't protect Toga, even though she'd been right by my side, so I'd have to avenge her instead. Avenging Toga. Yes, I could work with that. Even thinking about it brought me pleasure, not that I was able to spend a long time on it. Everything was a blur as I sped towards the monster that I'd once loved, and the only thing I could feel was the gruesome rage and bloodlust. I'd killed one monster before. This one wouldn't be any different. I wouldn't let another tormenter haunt my dreams for a decade, not when he was right here and I could easily make him pay - not only for Toga, but for shattering my heart. 

There was an explosion from behind me and even more screams, but none of them could distract me from my goal. There was only one thought left in my head - I needed to kill Hawks. I needed to make him feel the same pain he'd given Toga. I needed him to look me in the eye as I dug my knives into his flesh, so that he'd know who he wronged, so that he'd know it was all his fault that he'd abandoned me and tore away one of the only people that still mattered to me. I needed to make him pay for every single thing he's ever done. I needed to make him pay for how he'd led me on, how he'd destroyed whatever trust I placed in him, how he'd taught me the meaning of joy before plunging me into darkness. I needed to make him pay for the fact that he never tried, but he was still more than I could ever be.

What was I fighting for? I didn't know. Hadn't I asked myself that already? Maybe I did. Oh, yes, I did. My answer had been revenge. It still was. I fought for revenge, didn't I? I needed to balance the scale. He killed Toga, so it was only fair that I'd kill him, right? But there was something else that I fought for, wasn't there? It was that strange sense of justice. That sense that told me that I needed to make him pay for his wrongdoings. Hadn't that been the same sense that drove me forward when I was still a hero? Either way, it didn't matter. It drove me forward now, too, and it gave me the strength that I needed to move even swifter than before, so I wouldn't complain about it. What was I fighting for? I was fighting to make sure that Hawks paid for everything.

The long hours that I'd spent training with the League had paid off. I could tell from the way that I was able to dodge around the piercing feathers that tore through the sky - there was no way I could've avoided them if I'd still been at the same level that I was as a hero. It was undeniable that I'd gotten stronger. Even in my prime, I'd never been able to beat Hawks if the fight was fair. Now, I'd get to see just how much stronger I'd gotten. When I finally spotted those crimson wings doming in the air less than twenty meters from me, I tore forward with everything I had. At the last possible moment, I pushed off of the rooftop with one foot, launching myself through the air to where Hawks stood. I'd kept my quirk active, so he still couldn't see me, but I knew he was able to sense me with his feathers. That was probably how he'd found Toga in the first place.

Still, in this battle, I had the advantage. Sure, his senses were amazing, but they wouldn't make up for the fact that he couldn't see me. It also didn't make up for the fact that he was expecting me to be at the same level that I'd been at before, and oh, how he'd pay for that. Hawks was born strong - he had nowhere else to climb when he was already at the top from the moment he'd been recruited as a kid. I, on the other hand, still had a long way to go, and I was only planning to get stronger from here. I had the element of surprise on my side, and damn, did it feel good to know that he thought I was still the same weak little girl that I'd been so long ago. I was so much stronger now, and I'd make him pay for underestimating me. 

Oh, and there was the fact that my body was possessed by an undying rage and bloodthirst that made me ten times more ruthless than before. Any rational sense was gone, replaced by the need to hurt Hawks. When I finally closed the gap between us, it felt like years had passed, though I knew it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Dagger met feather as I struck for his heart, but he managed to somehow block it. I only grinned. So he wanted to draw it out, huh? I could work with that. That meant I'd have more time to make the bastard pay for what he did to Toga.

I loosened my hold on my quirk just the slightest bit, only enough to make myself visible to Hawks, but keeping everyone else still hidden - I only heard vague shouts from behind me, and I didn't want to blow their advantage before they were done. Hawks' eyes widened slightly, but I didn't give him even a moment to recover. I pushed forward, swinging my knives in fast, expert movements that I'd perfected during my time with the League, and I didn't know if it was the new-found strength or the shock of seeing me again for the first time in months, but Hawks barely managed to dodge the attacks. He must be a lot weaker than I thought. No one in the League had trouble avoiding these attacks.

He stumbled backwards, his feathers hanging limply from his wings as if he couldn't find the willpower to control them, which only made me even more infuriated. This asshole dared to kill Toga and then not fight back? It's like he was trying to make this unnecessarily easy for me, though I couldn't complain. It meant I could do whatever the hell I wanted with him, and boy would that be fun. I lunged forward, forcing Hawks to back up into the wall of a building, his eyes wide with paralyzed fear that brought me so much satisfaction. He killed Toga, and yet he was too pathetically weak to even fight me properly. 

I gave a low growl before swiping both daggers forward, cutting through the feathers of his wings as if they were paper. Shredded bits fell in a circle all around him, and Hawks tried to escape, only to fall flat on his ass, staring up at me with wide eyes and trembling lips, though I couldn't blame him. It's not every day that he ran into his childhood friend and ex lover that he thought was dead only for me to be alive and well and working with the League. For what it was worth, his reaction was better than I thought it would be. 

Still, that didn't matter as I took my time stalking towards him, absentmindedly flipping one dagger just to catch it by the hilt. I leaned down to him slowly, enjoying the way his throat pulsed as he swallowed back some of the terror. I didn't know how I looked, but it certainly wasn't a pretty sight, considering the fact that I felt like tearing Hawks limb from limb. I managed to restrain myself, however, and sheathed one dagger before tilting his chin up with one hand, pressing the other blade to his throat with my right. Bloodlust clouded my mind, and it took all of my self control not to slit his throat right then and there - it's what he deserved, after putting me through such hell and then slaughtering Toga. Instead, I gave him a crooked smile, the very same that Dabi gave me every day.

"Did you miss me?"