It's Not So Bad

Chapter 3 Part 3

*The Next Day*

“See you later Kiiarda! I will save some leftovers for you!” Izuku yelled as I made my way to the front gates to meet Hawks again. I waved to him with a smile and started looking to see if Hawks was here already. No later did I look up did I see Hawks land in front of me. We gave each other a smile and he said, “Hello Akiyama, ready for training? Also, are we set to explain the internship to your parents tomorrow?” he asked. I froze for a second before catching up to him.

“U-um yeah, all s-set.” I said and just followed him wherever he was going. ‘I will have to call them tonight. They will be pissed. And I will get beaten this weekend even more for sure.’ I thought until I hit a wall. I stepped back to see that I actually ran into Hawks, not a wall. “We are going to wait on Dabi and Toga before we go in the woods. Inside, there is a clearing in the dead center, but only me, and Dabi know how to get there without getting lost. Now, you will know too.” He said with a smile.

I gave him a small one in return and waited with him for them to get here. Ten minutes later, Dabi and Toga walked over from behind one of the buildings. “Hello again. Akiyama right?” Dabi asked. I just nodded my head as he walked over to Hawks and kissed his cheek. He then turned to me and said, “Ready? Follow me and Hawks. Or else you will get lost.” As he headed into the woods.

I quickly followed him, and Hawks as Toga walked beside me. Once we walked in far enough that I couldn’t see the outside of the forest, I let my wings out and let them fold around me. It was a little tight to stretch them, but I will once we reach the clearing. After a bit more walking, we came across a rock covered in vines. “Here is the entrance. Let us part the way.” Hawks said as he and Dabi both grabbed the vines and pulled them apart to show a very small tunnel.

I looked at Toga to see that she glanced at me before taking the first step. I followed her and when we came out the other end, my breath was taken away. It was a huge clearing with nothing but green grass and some flowers sprouting here and there. There was some snow blanketing the ground in some spots, but most was left untouched by it. Toga stopped walking but I kept going. Only stopping when I reached the center.

I looked up to see the sun and felt at peace. I slowly stretched my wings out to their full length raising them high up in the air then straightening them out at my sides and letting them fall to the ground. I closed my eyes and just stood there letting the sun hit me. “Beautiful isn’t it?” someone said from behind me.

Frightened, I put my wings up and turned around before realizing that it was Hawks. I let them out again and gave him a smile. “Yeah, it’s breathtaking. I already love it here.” I told him. “Well, I would love for us to continue admiring the sights, but I think it’s time that we start training you with your wings.” He said. I nodded my head and waited for him to continue. How about we start with reflexes? I want you to fly beside me. I won’t tell you when I turn or go higher or drop so I want to see how fast your reflexes are when it comes to flying after someone.” He said.

I nodded my head as he gave a count down from five. He didn’t even get to three before he took off in the sky. The first thing he did was fly straight up. We were passed the treetops and still flying high. All of a sudden, he came to a complete stop. He made a sharp turn left, then right, then up more, then right again. He made the turns faster as we went and that was pretty much for a good hour before he decided to stop mid-air again.

Deciding it was time to take a leap, literally, I let myself free fall. I arched my back and let gravity bring me back to solid ground face first. I tucked my wings behind me to help make myself more aerodynamic. I started spinning in the air and just as I was a few feet from the ground, I made myself pull up and rise high into the sky. I went passed Hawks, all the way up to where the air was really thin and just stayed there. ‘Maybe it’s time to use another one of my Demon powers.’ I thought to myself.

I took a deep breath before I activated one called ‘Night watch’ which turns my eyes black. Like the name, it’s basically super night vision. I looked towards UA and saw that Denki and Shinso were taking a walk around the school. I also saw Mr. Aizawa walking into a building with a small whiteish grey-haired girl. She couldn’t be any older then maybe seven or eight.

I took a quick look around the outskirts of the town next to the forest to see if anything was amiss when I caught a glimpse of someone staring right at me. Their eyes were glowing a bright white, and all of a sudden I froze, and my wings went back inside my body. ‘It can’t be’ I thought as I free fell back towards the ground. I could feel myself panicking as the wind ripped passed my body.

“No no no no nononononononononono it can’t be her. She’ll tell him and they both will knowandthenIwillbeinsomuchtroubleand-” I said out loud. I was lost that I didn’t even notice how close I was getting to the ground. All of a sudden, I felt arms around me, and my direction of travel went sideways. After rolling around a few times, which actually knocked me out of my panic somewhat, I shook my head and looked up to see that Hawks had stopped me from splatting on the ground. “Hey kid, what happened are you okay?” Dabi asked me as he and Toga rushed over.

“I’m sorry, I just s-saw something that m-made me freeze. It won’t h-happen again, I’m s-sorry.” I said looking at Dabi. He looked at like he was confused about something. “I am just glad you are alright. But you have to be careful, If we weren’t here, you would have died.” Hawks said. ‘Maybe it would be better that way instead of having people take care of me since I’m incompetent.’ I thought to myself. I just looked down and said, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

I saw Hawks look at me before saying, “How about we call it a day, having an intern almost die on me it too much for one day right now. Let’s get you back to UA alright?” He said. I just nodded my head and followed them out of the woods back into the city. I didn’t talk the rest of the way; I kind of just zoned out. ‘If that was really Mr. and Mrs. Akiyama, then I can expect to not be able to walk next week. But Hawks wanted to meet them tomorrow so I have to tell them tonight, I will just send them a text saying what he wanted to do. The internship is supposed to last a whole month.’

“Hey Akiyama, we are here.” Hawks said snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked over to realize that we were in fact in front of the UA gates. “Just to make sure, we are good to meet with your parents tomorrow right?” He asked. ”Um y-yes we are.” I told him. “Alright then, well I hope you have a good night’s rest Akiyama. We will talk with your parents tomorrow and then we can see what happens afterwards. Do you want to practice again tomorrow?”

“Um no, I would rather not. Can we just patrol?” I asked hoping not to have the chance for her to see me again. “Okay , I have a patrol scheduled anyway. But that does remind me of something I forgot to ask you. When you are a Hero, we have a Hero name and I forgot what yours was. So when you save someone, and they ask you, “Who are you? Who do I thank? What do you say?” He said. Without missing a beat, I answered, “The Underground Hero: FallenAngel.”

“You want to be an underground Hero?” He asked me. “Well I am not aiming for the top. As long as I can save others then it doesn’t matter what I am. As long as I help people.” I told him. I get wanting to be the best but sometimes that’s not what is most important. “Well then FallenAngel, I shall see you tomorrow, same time alright?” He said with a smile. I gave him a fake smile as I know what is to come tomorrow and headed inside where my two best friends were waiting to question me about why I was back early.

(Hawks P.O.V.)

I frowned as I watched her walk through the gates. Something was off. I don’t know but her smile didn’t really seem like a smile. ‘Dabi said he noticed something. But what? And why does she think she would be better off dead? Clearly she didn’t want us, anyone to hear her. I am lucky I did because of my hearing but why? And what did she see that made her freeze? Well scare her is more like it. What scared her so bad that she stopped using her quirk? Or who..’ I thought as I came to my door.

Once I opened it, I went inside and locked it behind me. “What has got you so focused you look constipated?” Someone said. I let out a scream before glaring at my oh so caring boyfriend. Note the sarcasm. “You shitty piece of bacon, don’t scare me like that.” I said. “Well I’m sorry chicken boy, but what the hell is going on. And do you know anything else about Akiyama?” he asked.

“I can’t really say. Call it a personal mission between me and Aizawa.” I told him. “So Eraserhead knows about it?” He questioned. ‘Curse myself for being so idiotic.’ I thought. “Okay but you have to keep quiet. And we aren’t sure about anything. Right now it’s just trying to see what is going on and if anything is happening.” I said. I can’t keep anything from him anyway so I might as well. And he might be able to help me.

“Okay but you have to tell me something. I can’t read your mind.” He said as he walked towards the couch. I sat next to him and put my head on his shoulder as he put his arm around mine. I put the TV on for some background noise and started explaining. “Friday was the day students picked out interns. I went with her to the roof because the classroom and hallway was crowded, and we would have had to yell in order to hear each other. We talked about how the internship would work and things we both liked and didn’t like, and I ended up taking her on a flight around the school. Dabi the smile on her face when she opened her eyes and saw everything….it looked like she was happy for the first time in a while. After we landed we went our separate ways since she had class and I had work.”

“Yesterday, a little after the morning, I got a call from Aizawa. He said that he believes we have another cold soba situation and asked if I could meet with him before my patrol with Akiyama. I asked if an hour was good, and he asked for an hour and a half, so I agreed and when the time came I made my way there and he told me what was going on after we sat down.” “Wait what do you mean cold soba?” Dabi asked me.

“Well, we use it as a code word of sorts for a similar situation like what happened with you and your siblings. He told me that something had happened that morning and that some things didn’t add up. Akiyama came into Recovery Girls office yesterday morning covered in cuts and bruises and even had a fractured rib or two.. She couldn’t walk at all and Blasty was the one to bring her in saying she was mugged. But when Akiyama left and she talked to Aizawa, Recovery Girl said that some of the injuries were a day or two old and weren’t from that same day. Like they were new but not fresh and she didn’t go home like that according to Aizawa so Akiyama saying she was mugged that morning doesn’t make sense.” I told him.

“And Aizawa had asked me to help him keep an eye on her since I was the one she’s interning with, and I agreed. He asked me to ‘update’ her parents on her internship when really it’s a home check. You know read the room and see how they act. I also noticed how she only stutters when she talks about her parents or when someone brings them up. She usually doesn’t stutter when she talks to me, so I am adding it as evidence.” I continued. “Did you see the way her face showed absolute fear and panic when you asked her about what happened when she fell? She was so scared that she actually stopped her quirk while she was in the air, and she was so wrapped up in her head that she didn’t even notice how close she was getting to the ground. Babe, I know from experience that she saw someone, not something.” He said.

“For her wings to just disappear, it means that her quirk is so in tune with her body that it knows when she is in danger, and it knows when to disappear.” He explained. “Then we might want to keep an eye on her parents. Aizawa also told me that he had asked Blasty and the Broccoli boy if she had told them anything and Blasty said only that she couldn’t see any identifiable features or anything that stood out. But then he said that Midoriya, the broccoli kid, had pointed out that they were married and that she could tell by the matching rings on their fingers. Aizawa said that Blasty’s expression when Midoriya said that made it look like he wasn’t supposed to. He said that it made him think something else is up.” I told him.

“Well there is something else. If she couldn’t find anything else, why would she lie about the rings? Why did she point out that it was a man and a woman? I mean I know it’s kinda easy to tell but if she couldn’t see anything, how does she know?” He asked me. “I don’t know. I don’t even know the reason why she got hurt. Blasty only told Aizawa that it was her decision to make not his. Which makes me think, what could the reason be?” I said. I really want to know what is going on. I don’t want more kids getting abused or have to go through anything like I did. Especially not her.

“Well tell you what, we can rest for right now and we can worry about this tomorrow. You have a meeting with her parents tomorrow and once you get back home, we can talk about what you found if you find anything. But let’s get to bed for right now and sleep okay?” He said. Thinking it was a good idea, I nodded my head and turned the TV off as I stood up. “Toya….can we cuddle?” I asked him. He just looked at me with a soft smile and held his hand out. I walked up and took it as he headed to our bedroom. Once we were under the covers, I snuggled up close to him and fell asleep shortly while listening to the lullaby of his heartbeat.

(Akiyama’s P.O.V. the next morning)

‘This is a bad idea’ is the only thought going through my head right now. Last night I sent a message to Mr. and Mrs. Akiyama that Hawks and wanted to talk tomorrow about the internship and what it entailed. The only answer I received was that they had left it on read. They know we are coming so they are probably trying to make sure it looks like I am happy there. I don’t want the day to start yet at all because I know they will try to get me to spend the night once we are done explaining the internship to them. Which I don’t see why they couldn’t just send a letter.

“Hey Kii, are you ready to leave yet?” Firework asked me. “Um, y-yeah. I a-am.” I told him. “What happened? What’s going on?” he asked me immediately. “Um, Hawks is m-meeting my p-parents after s-school. He want-ted to explain the int-internship to th-them because there m-may be weekends I have t-to tr-travel with him.” I told him. “You actually talked to birth canal and sperm doner?” he asked me. I shook my head and said, “No, I t-texted them l-last n-night which is sh-short n-notice so I k-know they will b-beat me for it. It was left on r-read, so they k-know he is coming.”

“I know for a fact that you lied to me last weekend. I told you to tell me when it got too much, and I would come get you. You said you would, and you never did.” He said. “It wasn’t too much for me. I am used to the things they do to me by now. If it gets too much, which is a bad day. I promise on my life that I will call you if I am able to do so. Okay?” I explained. I felt really guilty but it’s the truth. Most of the stuff I am used to. Yes I am still in pain but nothing I can’t handle.

“You better.” He said and walked off. I let out a sigh knowing that he was a little mad at me. I let my shoulders drop as I made my way to class, hoping that he would calm down at least by lunch. “I hope this day doesn’t end too quickly. I don’t want to go their house.” I said taking a seat and waiting for Mr. Aizawa to start class.