1ST PLACE IN 2020 BNHA AWARDS FOR BOTH BEST CHARACTERXOC STORY & BEST NARRATION.
Cover picture of Ari and Keigo drawn by @_special_donut_fp
"This is so wrong." Keigo whispered, as he smashed his lips against mine.
"Being devious is more fun. Isn't...
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Bottom picture credit: levisbench (thank you so much for everything <3)
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Keigo POV: ~ one year later ~
"Hope greeted me on the horizon with a warm gleaming smile."
~ Angie Weiland-Crosby ~
And when the storm clears away, the clouds pass to reveal the light of the sun, shining brighter than it ever had before.
But...this time, my friends, I can fly as close to the sun as I want to, without having to worry about melting my wings, anymore.
Bittersweet words to some, and to me as well, one time. But, if this year of healing has taught me anything, it's that some dreams need to be set free, in order to make room for new ones. And, oh man, how many new ones I've been able to make.
My wings will always be apart of me. I will always love them and hurt for them. I ain't gonna lie to you and say it's been all smiles and rainbows about their passing.
But, I will say, that I never realized how much my wings truly weighed me down. How their expectation, association, and ownership to everyone else, but myself, chained me to the ground, instead of allowing me to fly, the way my instincts always wanted to.
It's a blessing and a curse. The curse of never being able to taste one of my greatest joys again, but also the blessing of finally having been set free from the chains and the cage that always kept me locked in.
It was never the fault of my feathers. They always meant pure good. But, the truth is, those same wings I love so much have sucked up and absorbed so much toxicity over the last two decades, that I don't think I could have ever been truly free if they'd still been here today.
It was the blessing of being forced to take a step out of Hawks' shoes and re-evaluate the truth I needed to legitimately discover for the very first time.
And the truth, is that my wings do not determine my worth. They don't define me, or my identity.
Heh, I know what you're probably thinking. What? This guy's spent the last one-hundred-eighty chapters, basically saying the exact opposite; having an identity crisis every two paragraphs, and being forced his entire life to deem the benefit of his existence on those wings.
And, yeah, if you said that, you wouldn't be wrong. It's all true. When people saw Hawks, they saw fierce feathers, and with these fierce feathers, they automatically saw greatness and power, so I did, too.
I never got the chance to see what people associated Keigo Takami with. I was always conditioned to believe they'd be ashamed and disappointed in that guy. That, I might as well hide him away forever, because no one cares about the man, himself. Just his wings and what they can do.
