Frozen Wings

Chapter 29

Storms' POV

"How is he?" I walked up behind Takami, looking at Dabi. His facial features were crumpled up with fear, sadness and pain.

"Oh! S-Storms! You're awa- oh my god your face..." Takami turned to look at me, startled by my new wound.

"Made me ugly, didn't it?" I chuffed.

"No! That's not what I meant!" He stepped back in shock.

"It's fine. I know what you meant." I said, looking back at Dabi.

"Um- h-he hasn't moved much since I got him back. Still in a restless sleep. I think he's having nightmares." Takami changed the subject.

"Hm. Probably." I shrugged. At that moment something hit me.

"Hey Takami?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you know he was going to try and kill himself?" I asked. My friend tensed up, freezing in place. He looked at the floor, refusing to meet my eyes.

"I was up late." He said.

"Okay? And?"

"That's it."

"That's not it. You aren't a mind reader. He had to have said something that prompted you to know and come get me." I glared. He folded his wings closer to his back.

"Dabi told me..." The winged hero finally admitted.

"He told you? Then why didn't you try to stop him? Why did you come get me? And how did Dabi get so far so quickly?" My curiosity was piqued.

"Because I was mad." My friend mumbled.

"At what?"

"Dabi."

"Did you TELL him to go kill himself?!" My fur fluffed up.

"No! I didn't! But he said he was going to and left so I went to bed because I was mad and then it hit me that he actually meant what he said so I got up and got you!" Takami finally looked up at me.

"Why were you mad at him?"

"I can't tell you..." My friend lowered his head again.

I hissed angrily.

"What the hell is so important that Dabi almost killed himself over yet you WON'T TELL ME?!" I shouted.

"I just told you, I can't say!" Takami opened his wings and closed them again.

"You." Takami and I froze, turning towards Dabi. He had woken up and was watching us, obviously tired.

"Excuse me?" I flicked my ear.

"We've been fighting over you." He said. I stayed silent for a long, long time.

Dabi's POV

"You two IDIOTS... have been fighting over ME?!" Storms stared at us in shock. We nodded.

"But... why would you try to kill yourself over that?" She frowned.

I glanced at Hawks before responding.

"Because he's been nothing but cruel to me. I have tried so hard to make up for my past, like you asked, and this whole time he's been giving me nasty look, tripping me, 'accidentally' running into me, telling me I will never be anything to you." I admitted.

Storms' vertical pupils narrowed to slits as she whipped her head to the side to look at Hawks. He wouldn't meet her gaze.

"How DARE you?! You have no right to act like I belong to you! Besides that, what kind of hero treats someone like that?! You're going against your own words here! It's disgusting! Dishonorable! If you were a real hero you would act like everyone else has been! Even the students are behaving better than you are! You know what, get out!" Storms unsheathed her claws, slashing them across Hawks' face. He yelped in pain, stumbling backwards. She stalked towards him, stopping as he walked towards the door, head hanging in shame. He softly shut the door behind himself. Storms didn't move until his footsteps fell silent. She snarled, building a block of ice in front of herself. I watched as she punched it, cracking the ice with nothing but her fists. She exhaled a shaky breath, dissolving the ice. I shrunk into the bed as she looked at me.

"I'm not going to hurt you." She growled, sitting on the edge, legs hanging off the side, feet touching the ground. She set her hands in her lap, looking straight ahead. There was an awkward silence before she spoke again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Storms asked.

"Huh?" Her question caught me off guard.

"Why didn't you tell me that Hawks was acting like that?" I noticed that she didn't use his last name this time, instead choosing his hero name.

Damn. She must be really upset...

"Because I harmed plenty of people in my lifetime. I deserved it, is what I told myself. Besides that, I decided that if we were going to fight over you, I would be honest. I didn't want to bully someone into giving up. I would try to build a real relationship with you. It would take longer and I might not have been with you first if you had chosen to date either of us, but I wanted to do it the right way.

I spoke to Hawks, and I told him that even if you didn't feel the same way for me as I did for you, ever, I wouldn't go back to being a villain. I told you the truth. I didn't become a good guy just because I liked you. I was serious. If you never felt anything for me, that would be okay. I wouldn't turn on you because I was mad. I couldn't. I swear, I-"

"Dabi, it's alright," Her gaze softened.

"I understand. I can sense that you're telling the truth. I believe that you truly want to follow this new path you've chosen. I hear you, too, about your feelings. I've personally never fallen in love, but I know that is is quite possible for that love at first sight thing to happen. As of right now, I can't say that I can reciprocate your feelings. But I'm sure you can understand why, considering my life minus the past three years." She chuckled.

I remember. Of course I do. I couldn't forget a past like that. Mine was rough but... it's not anything like hers.

"I do. I-I didn't mean to force you to make a decision, I wasn't going to tell you at all but it got out of hand with-"

"Dabi." Storms gently set her hand on mine. I instinctively went to pull away, forcing myself to calm down. She wasn't going to hurt me.

"I know it wasn't an ideal situation for you to tell me. Don't worry about it. I'll get this all sorted out. That's what I'm good at." Her eyes shone with mischief.

I smiled a genuine smile. Something I hadn't been able to do in years.

"Thank you."