| DABI | Echoes in the Midnight Ember | Book 1 |

| 11 |

Hawks carefully landed on a rooftop, the soft flap of his wings the only sound breaking the day's stillness. He eased Rina onto the ground gently, his wings folding tightly behind him as he adjusted his stance. The city sprawled beneath them, distant lights flickering in the distance, a quiet hum of life below. Here, above the noise and chaos, the air felt cleaner, more bearable.

Rina remained seated for a moment, trying to steady her breath. She still felt the remnants of the overwhelming noise in her head, a faint buzz she couldn't shake. Hawks stood a few paces away, his sharp eyes watching her with an intensity she wasn't used to. Normally, he was the charming, laid-back hero who cracked jokes at every turn, but now, he seemed... more serious, more focused.

Rina's fingers gripped the edge of her sleeve as she stared down at the city, refusing to meet his gaze. She hated feeling exposed, like she was something to be scrutinized, especially when the last thing she wanted was to explain herself to anyone, let alone a hero.

"You're not alright," Hawks said, his voice low and direct, breaking the silence. He didn't ask; he stated it like a fact, a statement that hung in the air between them.

Rina clenched her jaw, her eyes still fixed on the lights far below. Here it comes, she thought. The questioning.

"Do you really think you can just keep running around like this?" Hawks continued, stepping closer. "Pushing yourself, pretending everything's fine? I've seen your face in those crowds. I know you don't like being the centre of attention. So why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

Rina finally turned her head to look at him, but there was no defiance in her gaze, only exhaustion. The silence stretched out, broken only by the faint hum of the city far below. She had no intention of opening up, no matter how much he tried to dig. She knew this game well enough.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice sounding more strained than she intended. She immediately regretted the words. It was the same thing she always said, the same lie she told herself every day.

"Liar," he muttered, taking another step closer. "You've got a quirk that lets you listen in on people, but you can't even hear what your own head's telling you, can you?" His words were sharp, but not unkind. He wasn't trying to hurt her—he was just... trying to reach her, in some way.

Rina flinched, her eyes flicking to his for a split second before she looked away again, the sting of his words digging into her. He was right. She didn't know how to deal with the mess inside her head. The constant noise, the endless searching for answers she never found. She didn't know what side she was on, who she could trust, or what the hell she was even doing anymore.

Hawks studied her closely. "I'm just trying to understand why someone like you keeps hiding. Why you put up this wall around yourself when I know, somewhere deep down, you want to do something with all this... information you're collecting."

Rina bit her lip, the frustration bubbling up inside her. She stood up abruptly, pushing her hair back from her face in a sharp motion. "I'm not some damn tool for you to use whenever it's convenient," she snapped. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Hawks. I don't owe you anything."

His gaze softened, but the sharpness of his next words cut through the tension like a knife. "Maybe you don't owe me anything. But you do owe it to yourself to stop pretending everything's okay when it's clearly not."

Rina turned away from him, her back to him now, standing on the edge of the rooftop, her eyes trained on the city below. She wasn't ready for this conversation, but somehow, it felt like it had been coming for a long time.

"You're not the only one who's tired of pretending," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hawks didn't reply right away, but the silence between them felt less oppressive now, more understanding. He wasn't pushing her, not yet. He was waiting. He wasn't going to make her talk, but he wasn't going to let her stay trapped in her own head, either.

After a moment, he spoke again, his voice quieter this time. "Rina... you don't have to do this alone. You don't have to shoulder all of this by yourself."

She stood there for a moment, feeling his words tug at something inside her. She wanted to resist, to snap at him, tell him to mind his own business, but something about the sincerity in his voice stopped her.

"I'm not asking you to join the heroes," Hawks continued, stepping closer, his presence a calming force. "But you don't have to hide in the shadows either. You've got a choice, Rina. Just... make it. You don't have to do everything for everyone else. You don't have to keep carrying the weight."

She turned to face him again, her arms crossed, trying to hold her ground. "And what if I don't want to choose? What if I just want to be left the hell alone?"

Hawks tilted his head, studying her for a long moment. His expression was unreadable, but she could see the glint of something almost like sympathy in his eyes. "You won't always be able to hide, Rina. Sooner or later, the world catches up with you."

She shook her head, trying to push him away mentally, even if she couldn't do it physically. "I've got my own reasons for staying where I am. And I'm not some hero who wants to play the game. I'm just... I'm just trying to survive."

The silence stretched again, but this time, it was more comfortable. Hawks seemed to accept her words for what they were, for what she was.

"Well," he said after a beat, his usual smirk returning, "if you change your mind about being left alone, you know where to find me."

He gave her a light, reassuring pat on the head before turning back toward the edge of the rooftop. With a beat of his wings, he lifted into the air, gliding into the sky.

Rina watched him go, her chest tightening. As much as she hated it, she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he was right. Maybe she couldn't keep running forever.

But the thought of choosing... choosing a side, a path, a future... that was terrifying. So she stayed silent, watching the city below, unsure of what came next.

Wait...

Rina glanced around and suddenly frowned. "This motherfucker left me on a random building..." She mumbled and glared into the distance where Hawks left. Her jaw tightened while she could imagine his cocky grin.