"So do we even have a plan?", I asked as Dabi sped down the deserted road. Hawks laughed, "Not really", I sighed, "Great".
"We have a plan shut up", Dabi snapped, I glanced at him, "Do share with the rest of the class please".
"Shoto Todoroki, Endeavor's youngest son will be giving a speech at this event, and we need you to get close to him, close enough to where the kid trusts you", he paused, "Then we get the answers we need".
"What if he doesn't talk? What then?", I asked, "He'll talk", he looked me up and down.
"And what if he recognizes me? I trained with him when I was a kid", Dabi sighed, "We planned for that, don't worry you'll have a disguise".
"He's an idiot, too smart for his own good, he'll talk, trust me", Dabi said as he stared ahead. I studied his face, he talked about Shoto as if he knew him, maybe a friend or something.
There was more to the story here, and I was going to find out what it was.
I looked in the rearview mirror, I noticed the same black SUV behind us. "We're being followed", I said quietly, "What?", Hawks sat up, "Don't turn around", I said quickly.
"How do you know?", Dabi asked me, "He's been on our ass since Ohio".
"Fuck", Dabi muttered under his breath, "Take this left up ahead", I said. I watched the car closely, but all the windows were tinted.
I looked at the license plate, "FUCK!!", I yelled, "What?", Dabi said quickly. "New York plates", I looked to him with wide eyes, "Shit!!", he slammed his fists on the wheel. Realizing we had been followed the entire time.
"Take this right then a left", I said quickly, thinking of a plan. "I have a plan, do you guys trust me?", I looked between them. "Yeah", Dabi said with no hesitation, "Yes".
"Hawks give me your gun", I held my hand out, "What- no this is my new-", "Give me the fucking gun", I snapped, he handed it to me quickly.
"When I say, I need you to drift to the right, got it?", I glanced at Dabi he nodded. I rolled my window down, my eyes fixated on the front left tire. I narrowed my eyes slightly and bit my lip.
"NOW!!", I yelled before I shot their front left tire.
Dabi swerved to the right and missed the uncontrolled car by an inch. "Stay in the car", Dabi opened his door, "Fuck you, I shot the car down", I left the car with him, "Hey guys-", "Hawks' words were cut off when the door closed.
"What's our plan?", he asked, "Get them to talk and if they don't, then kill them", I checked to see how many bullets I had left. "Ruthless, that's hot", he said, rolled my eyes, "Cover me?", I cracked my neck, "Yeah".
We started to approach the crashed car, our weapons ready to fire. "Who are you?", I yelled.
The drivers door opened, a man stumbled out, blood trickling down his face. He held up a gun, "Who sent you?!", I yelled, firing my gun at his leg.
He fell down and held his new wound. I stared down at him.
"R-Ren!!", the man cried out in pain. My eyes went wide, "There's someone else in-", my words were stopped when a bullet hit my shoulder.
"RAIN!!", Dabi yelled. I held my shoulder and fired my gun at the car, one bullet after the next, until the clip was empty.
He lifted me and kept shooting at the car, making sure whoever was in it, was dead. "HAWKS!! Start the car!!", Dabi yelled.
"Fuck", I winced in pain and blood poured out of my shoulder. Dabi placed me in the back seat and laid me on his chest. "GO! Drive dammit!!", he yelled, Hawks quickly sped off into the road.
"Fucking hell", I cried out in pain, "Let me see", he inspected the wound. "It went clean through", he took his hoodie off and tied it around my shoulder tightly.
"Call Shiggy, we need a house", Dabi said as he tightened the hoodie on my shoulder. "How bad is the pain?", he asked, "I got fucking shot! How bad do you think dumbass?!", I snapped in frustration.
"He gave me an address to a safe house in Illinois, it's about an hour away", Hawks turned back, "Drive faster then!", Dabi yelled, his eyes wide.
In that moment, for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes. I paid attention closely to him, he was scared, worried. About...me.
But why? He was planning on selling me out to my father, he was using me for his own personal gain. So why was he scared, why was there fear in his eyes? He couldn't fake this, he wasn't pretending.
In this moment, he was protecting me...
"Rain hey", Dabi held my face as I began to fade in and out of sleep. "Rain!", he yelled, my eyes fluttered open. I tried to keep my eyes open but I was losing too much blood, and fast.
"One bullet... won't take me out...re-lax", I said through breaths. "Fuck she bled through my hoodie, they hit an artery- step on it dammit!!", Dabi screamed out, his voice tinted with fear.
I woke up in a dark room, I noticed a figure sitting in a chair in the corner. But not just any figure, it was him.
"Dabi?", my voice raspy, "You aren't dead", he said with a laugh, he turned the light on. When his face came into the light my face dropped slightly.
His eyes were low, more tired than usual, bloodshot. As if he hadn't had a wink of sleep. I noticed worry, fear, mixed with that deep blue color in his eyes.
I tried to sit up but winced in pain, "Take it easy, you got shot", Dabi said flatly.
"Relax, it isn't my first time", I winked and sat up on the bed, enduring the pain. He chuckled lazily, "Quite tenacious, aren't you Rain?", his eyes fixated on mine.
"Can't help it", I grunted as I shifted. "I like that about you", his eyes watching me intently, I hid the smile on my face.
"You don't know me", I threw my head back, my eyes low. "I want to", I sighed and shook my head, "You're full of shit".
"Don't pretend like you care", I glared at him, "Never said I cared about you", he said before he walked off and shut the door.
I looked to the side, annoyed from the conversation. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, trying to stay focused on my goal.
I didn't care about him. You see, I say that, but then why am I mad that he said that...I needed to get my priorities straight. He was playing me, every word that came from his mouth was a lie. And I needed to remember that.
Dabi's POV:
I leaned back on the door and rubbed my face.
Little did she know I was the one up all night waiting for her to wake up, waiting for her to be okay.
I stitched her wound up while she was unconscious. I carried her to the bed. I watched her closely all night, not leaving her side for a second.
Sure I was exhausted, but I needed to know she was okay.
I was starting to rethink the deal Shigaraki and I had. Seeing those scars on her body changed things. I realized how much of a monster her father is.
And I couldn't bring her back to that pain. I couldn't bring that trauma back.
Whether I wanted to admit it or not. I cared about her, more than I knew was possible. And that, scared the living shit out of me. I didn't know what the right thing to say or do was. I was lost.
I never felt fear like that in my life. When I heard that gunshot fire. It felt like the world was crashing down on me. Like a tsunami hit and I was sitting on the beach, drowning in fear for my life. That's when I knew I couldn't go through with this plan.
Rain's POV:
I woke up the next morning feeling a little better, less sore. My father had put years into training me, turning me into a weapon. And all those years of pain came in handy in times like this.
I was able to heal more intense wounds faster than others. Getting shot a lot when you're young does that. Your body adapts and changes to your environment.
Hawks entered my room with a plate of food, followed by Dabi. "Here's lunch", I took the plate, "Thanks". "We need to talk about what happened", I sat up in the bed and took a bite of the sandwich.
"Someone was following us, and specifically targeting me", I started, "No one should know where the fuck I am", my eyes darted between the two of them.
"So does one of you want to tell me something?", my eyes narrowed. "You think we had something to do with this?", Hawks asked.
"Who are you working for, Hawks?", my eyes burned into him, his eyes widened slightly, "W-what no, why would you say that!", he said quickly. I glanced at Dabi, he looked unbothered.
I watched Hawks' behavior, he was nervous, anxious.
"Dabi?", I raised one brow, "Wasn't me", he shrugged his shoulders.
He wasn't lying, that I could tell clearly. Plus if he was working with Shigaraki to get me to my father, they needed me alive. So who wanted me dead...
"How much did they offer you, I'm curious", I looked to Hawks, "Rain you sound crazy, it's me", he laughed nervously.
I looked at the empty plate in my hands, then threw it at Hawks. Purposely missing his head by an inch.
"I don't like being called crazy", I said in a high pitched tone, "You fucked up", Dabi said under his breath.
"Rain, please- it's me, come on", Hawks said coolly. I dialed Shiggy's number on my phone, my eyes glued to Hawks as the line rang.
"Were you aware you had a traitor working for you?", I asked him through the phone, Hawks eyes grew wide with fear.
"Traitor? What?", he asked, "No one knew where we were going, specifically the route we were taking...yet, we were being followed", the line stayed silent for a moment. "Kill him", his words echoed through the room.
He shot up and ran off, Dabi trialed him closely. I heard a gunshot and flinched, praying to god it wasn't him. No wait, I didn't care. But then why was I shaking with fear...
"DABI!!", I yelled out, I heard footsteps approaching. My breathing was heavy, eyes wide with terror.
I let out a deep breath when Dabi's face came into the light, "Thank god", I whispered. "Aw Rain, were you worried about me?", he half grinned, there was blood on his face.
"Did you get him?", I sat up, "Bareley", he sighed, "He got away".
"What do you mean he got away?! How hard is it-", "There was a SUV waiting for him-and they had guns bigger than mine", Dabi roamed the room. I sighed deeply and rubbed my face, "Great- what are we going to do?".
"Relax, we'll change our-", "It doesn't matter if we change our route, he knows the destination!!", I yelled. "LET ME FIGURE THIS OUT DAMMIT!!", he screamed, his voice filled with panic.
"We can't stay here", he said as he grabbed all my things and threw them into my bag.
I struggled to get out of bed, Dabi noticed. "Here let me help y-", I pushed him away with my uninjured arm, "I can walk just fine on my own", I said through breaths.
"I'm throwing our bags in the car, meet me downstairs", he walked off. I took a deep breath and pushed myself.
"We need guns-a lot of them", I said, catching my breath. "We're in luck, Shiggy let me know the code to the armory in this place", I followed him down the hall.
"There's an armory here?", I asked, holding my bandaged shoulder. "He has one in every safe house", I raised my brows, "Smart".
My eyes widened with excitement when the metal door opened, "Oh...my-god", a grin grew on my face. "Throw as many guns as you can into this bag", he handed me a black duffle bag.
I started to roam the room, grabbing the most practical and powerful guns. I grabbed 4 AK 47's, 6 revolvers and 10 9-milimeter's.
"Woah", I stopped in my tracks when I saw it, "Beautiful, isn't it?", Dabi stared at the RPG with me. "We're taking it", I said, he smirked, "Damn right we are", he grabbed the large weapon and threw it over his shoulder.
"Did you get ammunition?", he asked, grabbing the two bags. "Yeah, we got plenty", he nodded, I followed him out.
"How's the pain?", he asked as he sped through the city. "It's fine", I said looking to the side.
"Take these", he handed me a bottle of pills, the label read: Hydrocodone. "Thanks", I tossed them back. I rolled the window down, the sun had just set.
The city reminded me of home, the bright lights. The engines roaring through the tall buildings of all the different cars. I stared at the bright lights, my eyes low and tired. I felt Dabi's eyes on me, I glanced at him and caught him staring.
"What?", I asked, "Nothing", his eyes stayed one me for a moment longer before he focused back on the road. A smile crept up on my face as I watched him. "What?", he looked to me, "Nothing".
"Rain hey", Dabi nudged my shoulder, I fluttered my eyes open, "Where are we?", I rubbed my face. "Middle of nowhere in Nebraska", he paused, "We should get some rest for the night". I followed him to the motel.
He started to unbandage my shoulder. When my eyes opened, I saw the wound, "Another piece to the collection", I sighed.
"I'm sorry...Rain", he said, his eyes on the floor. "It wasn't your fault", I started to clean the wound. "I should have checked if someone else w-", "It's okay", his eyes met mine.
He cleaned the exit wound, "Thank you for...taking care of...me", my voice quiet, he cleared his throat, "Yeah", he avoided my eyes.
He started to wrap the wound, "You heal pretty fast", he said. I laughed quietly, "Yeah- getting shot over and over when you're a kid does that".
He ran his hand through his hair, "I'm gonna go get us some food", he walked off quickly. I watched him as he walked away, his figure fading away till the door shut.
Why were things so weird between us?
I went through my bag, looking for my sketchbook. Accidently, I knocked his bag over and his black journal fell on the ground. I stared at it.
I shouldn't...but what if there's new information I can get...No, I wont look.
I grabbed the journal quickly. I looked to the last page. It was dated, two days ago. The day I got shot. My eyes narrowed and I sat on the bed. The message read:
It's not fair, I found love
It made me say that, get back
You'll never see daylight
If I'm not strong, it just might...
I flipped a few pages back, the next one read:
My ribs are nothing but an empty cage
Black hole in my chest
In my head, it feels like I'm a guest
When I'm dead I will be nothing
I can feel my skull shatter from the dull chatter
He was damaged, broken, just like me. It hurt reading these, knowing that this is how his mind works. We were more alike than I had initially thought.
Then the most recent message...It's not fair, I found love...
I heard the doorknob rattle and quickly put his journal back. I stood up, "Hey", my voice soft. "Hey", he dropped the bag of food on the bed, "Feeling any better?", "Yeah", I nodded.
"So when do you think we'll get to LA?", I asked him as we ate, "Hopefully Thursday, so we have time to plan for the event", "5 days", I sighed, "Yeah, 4 if I drive fast", he winked.
"Let me drive tomorrow, you drove all this way-", "No way, no one's allowed to drive my car expect me", he laughed.
"Plus your left shoulder is fucked, you cant drive", I tilted my head to the side, "You don't need two arms two drive idiot".
"Not happening Rain", he said flatly as he went to throw out all our trash, I rolled my eyes.