Vigilante Songbird (Hawks x Reader)

Chapter Forty-Eight

You knew they weren't bad people...just misunderstood. There was no reason for them to be arrested with the rest of them. Spinner would take care of Toga. He'd always cared for her like a little sister, just like you had. You let them go and turned to find your own way down from the broken structure of the building. You eventually found your way down and Sloane helped you down the rest of the way once you found a way to the outside that was closer to solid ground.

"Sensational!" Tokoyami shouted as he rushed over to you. He pointed to an ambulance with a paramedic closing its back doors. "Hawks is in that vehicle. They're taking him to the hospital...he's in rough shape." The student hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut as his fists clenched at his sides.

You patted his shoulder as you walked past him in the direction of the ambulance. "You did well. Thank you for helping him." You rushed over and caught the arm of the paramedic as she was walking to the driver's seat. "Wait," you exclaimed. "Please, I'm his fiancée. May I ride with him?"

She nodded and opened the back door for you. You scrambled in and sat on the bench beside the stretcher. Another paramedic was working to patch his wounds and strapped a mask to his face to help him breathe. Your eyes glossed over with tears seeing him lying there with a gash across the side of his face and his wings scorched, barely still intact.

You gripped his hand and brought it up to your face to kiss his palm before placing it against your cheek. "Keigo," you cried.

His golden eyes cracked open and the corners of his mouth twitched, attempting to smile. He winced at the pain in his face and groaned.

"Shh, it's ok. I'm here, just rest," you coaxed.

You squeezed his hand in yours the entire ride to the hospital. The paramedic worked on him during the ride, dressing his wounds and giving him an IV full of morphine to help with the pain. After a while, you arrived at the hospital and they took Keigo into the back, instructing you to stay in the waiting room.

Filled with worry, you paced around the lobby, not being able to stay still. What was only twenty minutes seems like hours, but a doctor eventually came out and called your name. You rushed over to hear the news he had come to deliver.

"Is he ok? Can I go back to see him?"

The doctor grinned softly and sighed, nodding his head. "He's going to be fine, but he'll take some time to recover. He's resting right now, but he'll need surgery to address his facial injury. His jaw is broken with several fractures in his face, along with a few cracked ribs. The injuries to his face will leave him scarred. His wings should heal on their own from what I've seen in his medical records." He flipped up a page on the chart he was holding. He tucked it under his arm and stepped to the side to allow you to pass. "He's in room 8. You can go back to see him. Just be aware that he won't be able to communicate right now."

You hurried down the hallway with quickened steps and slowly pushed open his door. Keigo was laying in the bed, his face bandaged up. You could see purple bruises forming underneath the bandages. His mangled wings twitched against the sheets as he laid on his back.

You walked to the side of his bed and grabbed his hand in yours. His chest rose with deep breaths as he rested. You smiled, tears stinging your eyes, but happy that he would be ok.

People began to visit the next day. Sloane brought you some food and a change of clothes which you were grateful for. She had insisted you take a shower and offered to sit with Keigo so he wouldn't be unattended when you hesitated to leave his side.

Endeavor came to visit, bringing his son Shoto with him. They wanted to talk to you about Touya after everything that had happened. You answered their questions, telling them you'd know him for a few years and that you'd dated for a while. You told them all about the things he'd confided in you about his childhood and how you and Keigo had stopped him from ultimately killing his father in the fight. You had left out the part about helping him expose the past he'd been a victim of.

"What's going to happen to him?"

The massive hero sighed, staring off like he was lost in thought. "He'll be in Tartarus for a very long time."

You nodded. "That's probably for the best...but if I may, I would suggest getting him some therapy services. It could help," you offered. They thanked you and left.

After a couple of days, Keigo woke up. He had groaned with pain and reached for his face. You grabbed his hand and warned him against it. The doctors had fitted his mouth with a piece of tech that allowed him to communicate electronically while he went through the healing process. He caressed your face and pulled you down to him in a tight hug, tearing falling from both of your faces with the joy of being together.

A few more days passed and he was released from the hospital. The doctor had instructed him to wear the mask for another week while his bones healed from surgery. The two of you went home and you stayed with him through the entire healing process. His feathers slowly regrew as his wings healed themselves and at the end of his recovery period, they were full yet again.

When Keigo was able to remove his mask, he kissed you so hard it made his lips sore when he finally pulled away. "I love you so much," were the first words he spoke with his own voice again, still hoarse but full of sincerity.

He apologized and explained what happened with Twice during the big fight. His eyes had filled with tears of regret as he replayed the events to you. You pulled him into a hug and gently stroked his back, reassuring him you trusted that it was an accident. He was grateful for your trust on the matter, but still, he showered you with apologies for the death of your friend.

The events that happened at the battle with Endeavor being exposed had all but crumbled hero society. The hero commission was forced to face the light for a lot of their shady operations. Keigo had come forward about their undercover operations with the league and all the terrible shitty things they had done to him with the brutal childhood training. Turned out he wasn't the only one that they had put through that type of training and essentially brainwashed into being their servant. The president and most of her executive staff were arrested. A few good-hearted and good-intentioned employees were left after the arrests.

The vigilantes worked on the streets alongside heroes in the wake of the massive attack. Crime skyrocketed with criminals thinking heroes would be no more. There were good heroes out there who still worked to keep people safe and were dedicated to cleaning up the crime that ran through the streets.

Once he was fully recovered, Hawks was approached by those left from the hero commission and asked if he would like to take the new top spot for the number one hero. He'd refused, insisting that the system of a popularity game needed to be done away with. He had given them a counteroffer they couldn't refuse and the two of you became two of the new executives of a new corporation for hero work that recognized all heroes - vigilantes included.

Over the next few months, the two of you brought in heroes that had a clean record and recognized them as licensed heroes that were cleared to work in the public again under the name of a new public safety commission. Vigilantes were brought in and given licenses as well. They were more than willing to work with fewer rules being enforced upon them and only having one expectation put on them - to save people and keep crime off the streets. Things were falling into place just as you and Keigo had wanted them to.

You sat across the desk from Keigo in his new office. He closed a case file on a new hero you had just licensed and smiled at you.

"Well, only one thing left to do now," he chirped.

You chuckled and crossed your legs in your seat. "And what is that?"

Keigo rose from his seat and walked around his desk. He knelt down in front of you and took your hands in his. His golden eyes gazed into yours full of love and pure admiration. He glanced down at your left hand and kissed the back of it, just above your sparkling engagement ring.

"I still need to make you my wife," he smirked.