Frozen Wings

Chapter 22

Hawks' POV

I sat still, allowing Storms to carefully unwrap the bandages from my hand. She set the soiled bandages to the side, resting my hand on hers, inspecting it to see how it was healing. I bit my lip, hoping she couldn't feel my racing heartbeat.

She's so careful... it's insane how someone can be so strong yet so gentle at the same time. I love that about her. Though I wish I could really hold her hand. For real. Not just to let her make sure my injuries were healing. But there's no way in hell I would make advances on her. She's probably got PTSD from the scientists that raised her. I don't want to scare her by doing something without permission, but... I can't just ask her, either! I'm probably not even a friend of hers yet! Damnit! I want to be able to spend time with her without it just being her tending to my injuries! How do I do that? How do I become a friend? More than a friend? I don't know! I've never had time to make real friends! Where would I go to find help? Someone with lots of friends, someone that gets Storms- MIDNIGHT!

"Alright! Good news! Your hand is completely healed." Storms' cheery voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I bent my hand, making a fist and releasing to test it out.

"Thank you!" I smiled. Storms stood up, cleaning up the mess.

"Of course. Now, why don't you run along? I can tell you're itching to be somewhere." Storms chuckled. I nodded, rubbing out of my room. I went down the hall, stopping in front of the elevator. Since it was Saturday morning, everyone was still in their rooms. I tapped my foot as I waited for the elevator to go up a floor. Once it dinged and opened, I raced over to Midnight's door. I knocked repeatedly for a good minute before the R-rated heroine pulled the door open, staring at me angrily.

"WHY must you be so OBNOXIOUS?" She glared.

"I have questions!" I bounced on my feet anxiously. Midnight squinted before stepping to the side, allowing me in. I raced inside her room, spinning around. Midnight closed her door, crossing her arms.

"What's got you all jacked up? More so than usual, anyways." She asked.

"I was thinking while Storms was checking my hand, and realized that the only time I get to spend time with her is when she's tending to my injuries. I knew you were friends with her and had a lot of other friends outside of UA, so I wanted to ask you if you had any tips on becoming friends with Storms?" I asked. Midnight froze, staring into my soul for a while before cracking up.

"You're even more dense than Kaminari!" She laughed.

"Am not!" I retorted, embarrassed.

"If you really just came in here to ask how to become friends with Winter, then yeah, you are." Midnight snorted, sobbing laughing.

"Why? What's wrong with that?" I frowned. Seeing I was serious, the heroine stood up, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Hawks, Winter sees you as one of her closest friends. She cares about you so much. I've never seen anyone work as hard as she has to try and figure out a way to fix your wing. Honestly I think it's taking a toll on her..." Midnight trailed off. I felt my heart sink.

"What do you mean?" I worried.

"She's been getting less and less sleep. Granted, she doesn't need much, but this is too little, for any living being. When she's not staying up trying to perfect her ice so it'll finally heal your wing, she's patrolling the UA grounds. None of us have had to take a turn in weeks. If it's not either of those things, she's talking to the students when they can't sleep or getting information from Dabi. She has enough info to fill two autobiographies now. The spark in her eyes is fading. She's less feisty now, and is slower than usual. To tell you the truth, I think she's hurting herself." Midnight explained.

"Hurting? Like... cutting?" I silently begged that wasn't it.

"No, no! Not that. Sorry, I should've worded my sentence better. I meant hurting as in causing her entire body and mental state to deteriorate. I'm worried that she's recessing. She's acting like she first did when we met her. It was only four months after she broke free. Winter had gotten herself a hero license, a class higher than any of us have. We approached her in a park where she was defending some little kids from this pervert. She finished the guy off pretty quickly. He barely survived, and to this day has not stepped an inch out of line. Anyways, when we spoke up, she turned on us like a wild animal, guarding those kids with her life. She looked horrible. Her bones were visible underneath her fur, even as an animal she looked exhausted. She was shaking, and wouldn't let us close until we dropped all of our weapons and showed her our licenses. The kids thanked her and quietly left, figuring we should be alone. I was surprised they weren't scared, because I was. Eventually, we got Winter to talk. She shared her story with us, and we attempted to convince her to work at UA. She refused, and took off. We didn't see her again for a year.

It was an early release day, so I was heading off of UA grounds to go shopping. In the plaza I saw her again, angrily roaring at these masked people who had a woman in their grasp. Within moments Winter had disabled them and torn out the throats of one. The other begged her to let him live, and she did. For a moment, anyways. When he turned to run, she shot a beam of ice into his back, burning a hole in his torso. As he hit the ground she checked on the woman, who thanked her and ran to her date. They thanked Winter again. She nodded, promising that they could rely on her. Once the couple left, she noticed I was there. I cautiously approached her, and was able to get her to chat for a while. She changed forms for the first time since she had escaped, and agreed to come with me to UA, just to try it out. She liked it a lot, and ended up staying.

I noticed her attitude immediately change when she got close to the students. She loves them so much. Her bones disappeared as she began to take better care of herself, and her eyes were filled with ferocity and determination. That's the Winter I grew to know.

But now... it's like everything she's worked for for herself is disappearing." The heroine's eyes were filled with tears. I felt my chest ache.

"Am I causing it?" I softly asked. Midnight shook her head, sniffing gently.

"No. I-It's not you. I don't know what it is. But she can't deal with this much longer. Winter may be tougher than she looks, but she's still human. She still has feelings, she still needs to take care of herself, she still suffers from PTSD. She's a stubborn bitch, honestly, and that's what scares me. If Winter doesn't admit she's suffering, she'll die before anyone knows." My colleague said.

I bit the inside of my cheek. "How can I help?"

Midnight looked at me. "Once she fixes your wing and Todoroki's paralysis, you need to tell her how you really feel."

"H-Huh?" I stuttered.

"I know you like her. So tell her." Midnight said.

"B-But what if I make it worse?" I looked away.

"You won't. I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She nodded. I sighed.

"Alright. I'll try."