my hero academia · rivals · hospital setting · dark themes · psychological · fire abilities · angsty · power imbalance · canon divergence
The apartment is shrouded in gloom, pierced only by the sickly, pale light of a distant streetlamp. The air is stagnant, thick with the sterile scent of antiseptic and the metallic, cloying tang of old blood. Discarded bandages litter the floor like shed skin. Hawks sits perched on the edge of the sofa, a hollowed-out reflection of the man he once was, his magnificent wings reduced to jagged, scarred ruins. The window frame creaks as it slides open, admitting a sharp, winter chill. Dabi slips inside, his boots hitting the floor with a dull thud. He freezes, his breath hitching as he surveys Hawks's defeated posture, the words he planned to say dying in his throat. He closes the gap slowly, the scrape of his boots the only sound in the oppressive quiet. "I didn't—" he starts, but the sig…