Caged ||A Hotwings story||

Rooftop

—

I tested out my legs, walking around and stretching. They were stiff but seemed to be working fine. I made my way out of the agency, my wings had fully grown back from their stay in the hospital. I fluffed them up, anxious to be in the air again. I took a leap, hurtling into the sky. A grin took over my face and I let out a loud, "Whoop!"

I soared over the city, gliding easily over each building. Streaking past the civilians bellow I made my way towards the Liberation Front's base.

~

The building towered over the me as I stared at it from the street. It was a mansion hidden in a copse of trees. It was quite hard to find but I had been here before. I strolled up to the doors, trying to be casual. There were two guards in front of the large oak door. They glared at me suspiciously as I approached. I waved and managed a friendly smile. They opened the door and I passed breathing a sigh of relief.

I felt very out of place surrounded by people who looked at me suspiciously. I spotted Touya in the corner, he was talking with Spinner. I edged towards them, trying to avoid making conversation with anyone.

When I was close enough Spinner saw me, he poked Touya and pointed. Touya looked up from his phone and waved me over. I wiggled my way through a crowd of people separating us mumbling, "Sorry, sorry, coming through. Sorry."

     "Hey Hawks," he greeted, smiling warmly,
     I grinned back, "hello Dabi," I said using his villain name.
     "You can call me Touya, they already know it's my name." He said,
     "Okay, Touya." I agreed,
     "Come back here," he said, "it's less crowded, the rest of the League is in there." I nodded and followed him. Spinner had already disappeared into the crowd of people.

     Touya pushed through the door and sure enough there was the League. Toga who was lounging on a couch bounced up to greet me, "Hawk!" She chirped, "what are you doing here?"
     "Just visiting." I answered, then I turned my attention to Shigaraki. "How's it going Shiggy?"
     "Fine," he rasped, "come, sit down." I obliged, picking a red sofa near the window. Touya sat next to me though I noticed he kept a fair distance away, we were still awkward around others.

"We need to plan how to get you out of the commission." Shigaraki said, I nodded in agreement, "any ideas?" He asked, looking around. No one piped up, and honestly, I had no idea either. Shigaraki sighed and massaged his temples, "I thought so," we sat in silence for a while hoping an idea would just pop up. I feared what we were planning wasn't even possible.

Eventually Touya cleared his throat, "I'll show Hawks around, he hasn't been here before." Shigaraki nodded but was clearly distracted by his thoughts. Touya stood and pulled me with him. We toured the mansion not saying much, I wanted to cry. It was too much, to be so close to freedom and not be able to reach it, was excruciatingly painful.

Touya seemed to sense my distress, he tentatively took my hand and squeezed. I look up at him and he asked, "want to come up to the roof?" I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek, I didn't want to talk for fear of my voice breaking and tears spilling.

We walked around looking for the stairs not saying a word. Despite the high ceilings and thick walls I felt cramped, trapped. But up on the roof it was different. Like a breath of air on a sinking ship, the trees spanned our vision, the sky was a bright blue that made it feel like maybe, everything would be okay.

—