Frosted Flames (Second Book To Achromatic Butterflies)

Chapter Six

Eri played with her fingers as she looked away her face flush. "That was very inimical of him. I tried to stop him but it fell through." Hawks shrugged "I get it he's mad. Confused, frustrated. We all get like that sometimes. It's not always respectful to shield our oncoming emotions so, I'm kind of glad he let loose. Sure he blew off steam but now that it's off his chest he won't feel so weighed down. Don't blame yourself or him kid." Hawks patted Eri on the head before walking inside the radio silent hospital. Eri nodded walking in with Dabi behind her. The three walked in the quiet till they were lead into Tamaki's hospital room. "He's awake now, he's also got a lot of pain killers in his system to keep him calm." The nurse inquired walking out to leave Eri, Dabi and Hawks to loom over the giggly twenty two year old.

"Eri, Hawks, Dabi! What a nice surprise!" His eyes lit up as laughed again. "The painkillers-" Eri stopped the winged hero "they act as a release for pain. It's kind of like drinking  or so I'd assume. You get the chemicals to work correctly and surely enough you'll have a drunk fest. With this the pain killers are numbing his insides making the sharp pains, almost non existent." Eri explained getting unsure looks from Hawks and Dabi "you're twelve, how would you know about what happens when you drink?" Hawks asked a grin on his face. Sheathing the panic, "telling from your movements I'm lead to believe that you can agree to the statement of drinking can make you seem numb." Eri smirked at the tallest boy. "So I drink! Sometimes, I don't do it for any reasons though" he held up his hands as Eri gazed at him tracking his movements "your jaw is clenched and your fists are balled. You're shaking like a leaf being blown away. You're refusing to keep eye contact with me. Now look me in the eyes and tell me, why do you do it Keigo Takami?" Eri stood tall her velvet eyes staring at him with burning hope.

Hawks cringed when he heard his true name. "It's an escape." He spoke his lips pressed in a thin line. "From reality, you were hurt in the past?" Eri asked her mind wondering "immensely." He nodded with small hesitation. "What you say will stay in my mind I won't udder one word to anyone who isn't in this room." Eri reassured the blonde who glanced between Dabi, Tamaki and her. "It all started back when I was a small child, I grew up in a small town. Lacked friends, so I was the loner who had to learn how to fly by myself. One day my wings gave out and before I knew it I was falling off of a roof. My arms trying to stay afloat. I tried to gather enough air thinking my wings were just malfunctioning. When I fell it wasn't in the comfort of arms but the pain of the sidewalk. I was found laying breathlessly on the icy sidewalk. Everything felt scrambled like I shattered in pieces. Endeavor was the one to find me, he asked where my parents were but I was in far too much pain to respond so he sent me an ambulance and I was sent to the hospital. I had to be monitored for weeks on end. My wings, they chipped away, cracking under the slightest blow of air. I was told I couldn't become a hero with no quirk. I didn't want to believe it. I mentally fought against it. Every day I had to stay there I pushed myself, I had to be able to use my wings again. I'd be nothing but a failure if I didn't progress on my quirk. Everyone else around me, were mastering their quirks while I was sat up in a hospital having to face the fact that the doctor could have been right, my wings wouldn't heal and I'd have to give up on not being a hero. I feel into a depression of being quirkless and gave up. The only friend I had was the comfort of the brick hard bed. I broke my back and my wings snapped off at the base of where they'd come out. I had two giant slot holes in my back but nothing to accompany them. Slowly after my wings gave out and basically fell off I lost my teleconetic ability to help others. I was rendered useless, there wasn't much the hospital could do. So they released me and I had to learn how to be normal. One day when I was in my twenties I get a call from the hospital telling me that if I still felt useless that they had created a solution for me. They explained they had been testing a theory and said they had prosthetic wings they could basically wire into me. I spent half a decade learning to dull the constant pain and the void I fell into. Sadly that meant falling into a depression and not being wise. One drink turned into not even being able to count. The bitter taste a deception on my tongue with every sip I fell harder. I couldn't face the fact that my real wings wouldn't be part of me again. They were thrown out like they were nothing." Keigo shrugged as if what he said were nothing. "S-so wait you are quirkless?" Tamaki's heart sank as the blonde nodded. He let Dabi lift his jacket and shirt just enough to see the giant empty slot holes in the blonde's back.

"No need to worry over something so minuscule. I've learned to live with it." Hawks smiled but Eri could see the pain behind his eyes.