False Reality

Down and Out

Keigo was used to pain.
The commission has made it that way so that despite having injuries that would be debilitating to most, they were something he could power through and save people whenever they needed it, even if he was hurt.
He'd been stabbed, beaten, cut, and even waterboarded when they had torture trained him.
But nothing compares to the pain of being burned.

And sure, he knew he had it coming. He knew what he was getting into when he flew towards the blue flames instead of away from them.
He'd been burned by them before, he knew the searing pain that tore through his skin from them. He had the scars on his face and up his side to prove it.

But the flames this time were so intense, so much hotter than the time before, like they were worsened by the clear rage Dabi was in.
So when the League's newly owned doctors told him that he might never get his wings back, he wasn't really all that surprised.
That was the price to pay for being a hero, for trying desperately to stop the murder that was happening right in front of his eyes, and any other murders of innocent civilians that happened to get caught in the mess on the streets.

And he'd failed. He'd failed at keeping Endeavor safe.
Endeavor had basically melted in front of his eyes, his hero, the man that inspired him to become a hero himself.
All at the hands of someone Keigo had a run in with himself in the past, and now he knew that Dabi hadn't really been serious that time, probably thanks to Stars presence during the fight, otherwise Keigo himself would have been a charred body on the floor just like Endeavor had been by the end.

So yeah, he was in a lot of pain, mentally and physically, he missed Y/N like mad, even if she was usually mad at him, and the person that had handed her off to the League would not leave him alone.

"You should join, too." Aoi says, albeit quietly, from beside him.

He'd deliberately turned his head away so that he wouldn't have to look at her, even though it hurt to move his head thanks to the scarring on his neck.

"I'm not making any decisions until I have Y/N back." He says simply, curtly, refusing to give her any more reason to try to continue with luring him over to the League's side.

"I can't control that..." Aoi reminds him.

He ignores her, he knows that and he doesn't care. He just hopes that the more he abstains from giving her an answer and insisting on Y/N being returned to make a decision would hurry them up with it.

"Look, Keigo, the Commission has always been bad. You know that, I know it, we all know it. These guys methods are the same thing, just less underhanded. If you piss them off, you know they're going to fight back. The Commission would smile to your face and then put a hit on you the second you walked away. You know where you stand here." Aoi continues on the same preachy bullshit he'd heard for days at this point. "Shigaraki said he's willing to drop the grudge, but you just need to-"

"Shut up, Aoi." He murmurs, his voice not carrying like he wants it to from the instilled fear in him from his previous handlers.

She does shut up for a minute, but a minute's not long enough.

"You've done their dirty work for them. You've been on their side of the hits, so it's only a matter of time before they turn on you. Probably soon considering what happened with Endeavor."

"Why are you even in here, Aoi? The Commission is dismantled. You're not my handler. Get out. Go live your life free." He tries to dismiss her.

"Because I believe in this. I want you to be free, too." She admits, almost coyly.

"I won't be free. It's the same shit under a different name. I'll just be owned by someone else." Keigo shrugs.

"That's not true." She defends. "They don't own me. They've set me up with a place outside of that horrible block, and I'm allowed to do whatever I want now. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want..."

"And all you had to do was give them Rai's book instead of fucking someone this time. Congratulations." Keigo snaps.

She falls silent for longer this time, which works for him, even if he knows that was a low blow.

"They killed her parents, Keigo. They killed her parents for daring to turn down their ridiculous offers. That's fair to you? You want to stay on the side that does that to people?" She asks, and Keigo bristles, but squeezes his eyes shut and tries to swallow his anger.

"You can belittle my suffering all you want. Make me out to be some Commission paid whore that went wrong, because I couldn't do my duty in producing more useful quirks for the Commission to use and exploit if it makes it easier for you to be blinded by how terribly they treat their own people." Aoi says, equally as coldly now. "But that girl deserves justice for what happened to her, and a father figure that at least tries to right the wrongs that were done to her."

"Leave her out of it."

"Okay, then what about you, Keigo?" She asks. "What about the childhood you never had because of the training? What about all the food you like to eat, but can't, because of contracts, and diets? What about wearing clothes you like instead of clothes you're contractually obliged to wear? And, christ, you won't even let yourself be you because they trained you out of it, because according to them, heteromorphic traits are 'unattractive'." She lists, sounding more and more exasperated. "...What about wanting to date me?"

Keigo scoffs.

"...Yeah. I thought that wasn't really genuine." She mumbles.

Keigo turns his head to glare at her, his golden eyes pinned as he glares at her.

"It was. But why would I want to date someone that sold my kid out?" He asks, his voice low.

"I didn't sell her out, Keigo. I didn't know they were planning on taking her!" She defends, her eyes beginning to get watery.

"I don't care. She's gone, and you were meant to look after her." He says, sticking to his guns. "Just go away. I'm in pain and you shoving all of this down my throat is pissing me off."

Aoi looks at him with watery brown eyes that are full of hurt, a sight that probably would have won him over before being severely burned and losing his daughter, but she does pick her bag up off the floor and throw it over her shoulder, taking a deep and shaky breath before looking at Keigo again.

"We could both be free, Keigo. Y/N, too." Are her parting words before she rushes out of the room.

There's a sweet moment of silence before the muscular grunt sat guarding the room snorts a little as he continues to scroll idly through his phone. After all, Keigo wasn't much use with his legs burned too badly for him to walk on, it wasn't like he was going to be running off any time soon.

"Blew it, dude." The stranger comments amusedly, as though they're friends that can talk that way with one another. "She's hot."

Keigo ignores him, because if he talks there's a strong chance he'll say something not so friendly and end up upsetting a random member of the dregs of the PLF movement enough to get them to convince the nurses that he didn't need any pain medication again.

"Seriously, number two." The grunt addresses him, looking at Keigo from the corners of his eyes. "F' she wants to be with you after you've been all burned up like that..."

"Did I ask?" Keigo can't help but snap.

The grunt shrugs, returning back to whatever was so interesting on the screen in his hand. At least this underling wasn't as sensitive as the last one.

It's been so long since that Keigo has been so disrespectful to people. He always had to put on a front, always had to be polite, jovial, Hawks, before.
Not here though.
Not ever again if he wanted.