Top pic credit: unknown. Tell me if you know
I've been sitting-no, shivering, in this freezing room for hours. My nose is starting to become runny, so I'm sure I'm catching a cold.
As much as I should probably go to sleep, I just couldn't bring myself to do so.
Thoughts of my family and friends clouded my head.
My mom. My dad. My brother. Nejire. Mirio. Tamaki.
I wonder what they're all doing right now. Do they even know I'm missing? I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry I couldn't do better.
My brain, and unfortunately....my heart, couldn't help but reflect back on my time with Keigo. From that first day I walked into his office. He was so handsome, it made me nervous. I already knew, in the back of my mind, that I'd end up falling for him. I just couldn't stay away, and admittedly....I didn't want to. I couldn't help myself when it came to him. Our shameless flirting, which we both believed to be harmless, even though it wasn't....to our almost kisses and electric touches.....the moments at the Hawks agency when he made me happy, the times his eyes would crinkle up when I said something that made him laugh. The silly dance....when we both went with different people, even though we wanted to go with each other. Our amazing first kiss. I still remember how gentle he was with me....how soft and wonderful his lips felt against mine...
Ah, I still want to kiss him again.
The little moments. His effortless ability to make me feel like the most beautiful, most important girl in the world. The times we opened our hearts to each other. The moment we said our I love you's...
Was it really all a lie?
Guess it doesn't matter anymore, huh. Actually, it's not even a question on whether or not Keigo was lying to me the whole time. I mean, the answer to my question lies right here. Right now. In this moment.
He's delivered me to die. To become evil. To become a monster.
Boy, oh boy...how different my life would be if I'd never accepted his offer to come work at the Hawks Agency.
If I'd never gone into the west wing of that stairwell, the day I was training with Ryukyu's team, and ran into him.
If I'd never fallen so completely, and utterly in love with him.
Guess I'll never know. It's too late for that now.
Sigh. Good times. Happy times. I really took my life for granted.
Here I am, chained to a chair, with quirk restricting handcuffs on my hands and feet. I've gone over every possible escape route in my head, but I can't do anything when I'm tied up like this. It's not physically possible for me to get out.
I think it's really the end for me this time. I'm sorry I couldn't do better.
I'm sorry I couldn't be anyone's hero.
Letting out a deflated sigh of defeat, I blankly continued staring at the ground...hoping that maybe I'd be able to fall asleep and forget all of this. Even if it's just for a little while.
I closed my eyes, trying to force myself into unconsciousness....
Tap.
I crinkled my nose upon feeling something tickle it, realizing that the biggest torture of this entire situation, is that I'm not able to scratch my itches any time they come about...because I'm tied up. UGH.
I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, trying to ignore the fuzzy feeling that made me want to sneeze-
Tap.
I felt the tickle on my bruised cheek now, before it trailed over to my eyelids.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-
"What the fuck." I hissed out, forcing my eyes open to see what the hell kept hitting me in the face.
I stared at the beautiful, all too familiar, vermillion feather in front of me....watching it floating a few inches away from my face.
Keigo. You stupid son of a bitch.
My mind flashed back to the last time I saw Keigo. We were surrounded by Dabi, Toga, and Twice....but he purposely tapped me with his wings before walking away.
He must have used that opportunity to secretly place a feather on my shirt.
Groaning slightly in irritation, I harshly blew some air at the feather, trying to get it away from me.
Didn't even budge.
I chuckled dryly, half wondering if I was just hallucinating at this point.
"What, come to torture me more, pigeon shit? Well, guess what? I don't need your help in that department, okay? Congrats. Gold star for you. Ya got me. You really fucked me over. You won. You broke my heart. Nice job. Mission accomplished. Now, go away. I have nothing more to say to you, and I'd like to be alone, in peace, with these last few moments of my life." I spat at Keigo's feather, not caring how depressed and dark that sounded.
It seems I've taken a page on emo angst out of Dabi's book. Ugh, I've been hanging around him too much. He's rubbing off on me.
As I bitterly expected, Keigo's stupid feather didn't go anywhere, instead giving my cheek a soft, gentle tap again.
I can just imagine him right now, wherever the hell he is....that dumb bird mind of his, telekinetically moving this feather around on my face, listening to my words...my voice....my heartbeat...my breathing. Those cute-I mean, irritating, blonde brows were probably knit together in focus, as he controlled his feather to carefully tap my skin over and over again. Oh, and I already know those piercing, golden eyes were blankly staring at nothing in particular, as he tried to have this strange conversation with me through his little feather. As usual, I can't hear him. But, he can hear me-
I didn't even realize my eyes were wet, until I felt Keigo's feather swipe under my eye, wiping away a faint, stray tear.
Clean up on aisle twelve, cause I'm a mess and everyone knows it.
I scoffed weakly at his action, rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see.
His feather trailed down to the cut on my throat...the cut that one of these, now pillow soft, feathers made a few hours before.
He couldn't speak to me, he couldn't communicate with me too much through this feather, as all he did was gently tap my cut a few times. Clearly, he's trying to tell me something.
But, I didn't want to hear it.
"Will you just leave me alone, Keigo. Please. Just leave me alone. You've done enough." I whispered quietly, the angry facade I've been forcing with him for the past few days nowhere to be found.
Keigo's feather floated back up to my face, hovering forward to give my nose a gentle tap.
This motherfucker's really trying to boop my nose right now?
"What do you want? Spit it out or get out." I hissed, starting to lose my patience with him for the countless time this week.
Keigo majestically swirled his feather around in front of me a few times, clearly trying to say, "look at this."
I felt incredibly petty as I kept a glare on my face. A glare that he couldn't even see. Begrudgingly, I kept my eyes on his feather. Not like I have anything else to do.
I watched as a few barbs and bristles from Keigo's feather began individually separating before my eyes....something that I know is incredibly difficult for him to do. I guess that action requires a lot of his focus and brain power-or, so he said.
The separated pieces of his feather, which were now about as thick as a toothpick, slowly hardened...before two of these pieces made their way towards the chains that kept me strapped down to my chair.
The part of Keigo's feather that still remained intact, floated back over to my face, tickling over my jaw.
"W-What..." I uttered in pure confusion, before he controlled his feather to turn my head down towards my chains.
I looked down at my restraints blankly, not understanding what he wanted from me.
"Why am I looking at these?" I muttered lowly, still mostly convinced that he was fucking with me somehow.
Keigo's feather remained stagnant for a moment, meaning he was probably thinking about how he could get his point across.
A few seconds later, he began tapping my chains, grazing his feather around on them.
Hm?
I remained quiet, still not piecing together what he was saying.
Keigo gathered this, as he floated the hardened barbs of his feather towards my chains, swirling them around randomly.
"I'm not getting it, birdie." I sighed tiredly, not even trying to pretend I knew what he was talking about. Either I'm tired from not sleeping for four days, or I'm more dense than I thought.
In the next instant, the soft part of Keigo's feather glided carefully across my eyes, before trailing down to my restraints. Then, back up to my eyes, and back down to my restraints.
He repeated this motion a few times, patiently waiting for me to pick up on what he was saying.
Okay, Ari. Think. Think through the exhaustion. Yes, there's still a good chance Keigo is just playing a sick joke. But I don't have any other options right now. It's either sit here and do nothing, or at least see what he wants.
"Eyes....feather....chains...." I muttered to myself, watching the hardened barbs of Keigo's feather still swirling around blindly-
Blindly.
He can't see. He can only hear and feel.
"Okay....see? Sight?" I asked, feeling him tap my cheek rapidly in response.
Is that tap because I'm right or wrong?!
I'll pretend it's because I'm right.
Keigo's feather began tracing over my chains again, seemingly trying to find something on them.
I looked at his feather, before looking at his hardened barbs, then back at my chains.
Feather. Sight. Chains-
Oh.
Hah.
There's no way. Right?
I chuckled dryly, feeling stupid for even thinking such a possibility after everything that's happened with Keigo and I in the past few days.
Even so, I didn't really have another alternative. So, why not ask.
"You're not.....seriously trying to unlock my chains right now..." I stated, my tone laced with disbelief so I didn't get my hopes up.
Keigo rapidly tapped his feather against my stomach in response, before continuing to blindly trail his feather along my chains.
Huh...?
What the hell is happening. This entire situation is just one giant, emotional rollercoaster.
Deciding to hold back anymore insults on him, simply because I was intrigued, I watched Keigo's feather floating around...starting to translate his unspoken language.
Gliding the feather over my eyes. Blindly trailing his touch over my chains. The hardened, paper thin barbs he created from his feather...
Call me crazy, but it sounds like he's trying to say something along the lines of...
"I can't see, so tell me where the lock is."
"T-The.....the...lock...? Is that...what you're trying to find?" I uttered softly, so afraid I'm wrong about his intentions with this.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
My jaw dropped slightly ajar at his response. Maybe I'm dreaming. Or maybe I died already.
I'm confused as hell.
But Keigo's my only option at the moment.
"It's....to your right...." I muttered, testing out if I correctly picked up on his body language-or rather, feather language.
My heart physically jumped up my throat in shock when his feather immediately followed my instructions, moving to my right.
No way...
Forcing myself to bury any other thoughts about anything....I gained my composure, starting to actually participate in this odd game Keigo and I were playing.
"T-To your right. Again..."
The feather continued sliding right.
Holy shit-
"Now...stop. Go up.....up.....up-stop. Make a left....down.....a little more..." I instructed, focusing intently as Keigo followed every single one of my instructions perfectly.
Keigo hovered his feather over the lock, starting to feel over every part of it.
"Y-You're there....you're there..." I whispered, holding my breath as I watched this situation unfold before me.
The hardened feather barbs Keigo created a few minutes ago quickly floated over to the lock, before they carefully inserted into the keyhole.
No way.
He's...really doing it.
The barbs wiggled around for a few minutes, as Keigo tried to gather the structure of the keyhole. I patiently waited, not daring to speak a word, as he blindly picked the lock. I'm sure it required even more focus because he could only feel it, not see it.
But, then again...these are the skills the hero commission teaches us from a young age. I learned how to pick a lock, blind folded, by age twelve. I'm sure Keigo learned the same.
Click.
I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I heard the most beautiful clicking sound in the entire world....watching the chains that kept me strapped to the chair fall off my body in a worthless slump.
My jaw practically hit the floor, as I was now able to move a little more freely. My hands and feet were still cuffed, but now I could slide out of this chair if I wanted too.
I was mute, speechless. And I'm sure Keigo was probably laughing to himself, thinking something like, "Glad I finally got ya to shut up, chicky."
"What....is happening..." I uttered in shock, watching Keigo's feather barbs float over to my cuffed hands.
He didn't need much help from me this time as he quickly found the lock on his own, repeating the same process he used before.
A few minutes later, the painful pressure that's been on my wrists for the past few days immediately lifted as my handcuffs fell to the floor.
I let out an audible gasp of relief at the feeling of my blood flowing back to my hands. Not only were those handcuffs extremely tight on my hands, but they've been on me since I was captured at the school.
I was so distracted, rubbing my clammy, irritated wrists...I didn't even notice Keigo had already unlocked the handcuffs that held my feet captive as well.
My eyes shot down to my feet in shock. Then my hands, then the discarded chains on the floor.
Holy shit.
He did it. He actually did it.
Keigo set me free. Why? Damn, I really wish he could talk to me right now and explain this.
I watched Keigo's feather piecing itself back together, while I tried to make sense of all of this. My mind has officially been blown.
He captured me. Lied to me. Mocked me. Betrayed me and my family. Punched me in the face. Almost slit my throat with his feather. And encouraged Dabi to make me into a Nomu, instead of burning me alive.
And then, he sets me free.
Keigo Takami....you are officially the most confusing, contradicting man I have ever encountered. Seriously, I hate you. And I love you.
Guess that makes me just as contradicting. No wonder we dated.
Does this mean I trust him? After everything he's put me through in these past few days...?
No way.
The guy's been lying to me about who he is, since I've known him. Of course, I'm going to be very suspicious of his intentions.
But, I guess I'm caught between a rock and a hard place now, because my only choices at the moment are to trust Keigo, the man who's trying to turn me into a Nomu....or become Nomu-fied.
Very nice. Very great.
I pursed my lips in final thought, before begrudgingly turning to Keigo's feather.
It was already pieced back together, patiently floating around in the air. Clearly he's trying to give me some time to process this.
Letting out a small sigh of frustrated confusion, I decided to gamble on the only choice I had...hoping the man who's apparently trying to kill me will also be the one to save my life.
"Alright, Takami. You've got my attention. Go ahead, I'm listening."