~Inki's POV~

Flashback: (Inki Age 12, Hawks Age 10)

"Please, no more." I cried, "it hurts." My body dropped to the floor, unable to support me any longer and I wrapped my frail bruised arms around my abdomen. Thick black ichor spewed from my lips, more congealed in the back of my throat threatening to drown me and I rolled onto my side and tried to expel it all as pain wracked my body.

"Get up." A cold unfeeling voice growled somewhere above.

"N-no." I begged as I convulsed again. This time blood came up with the ichor and splattered across the floor.

A small hand came into my vision and I felt Hawks brush my hair out of my face so I wouldn't get blood and ichor matted in it. "She's done for the day." He retorted to the cold unfeeling voice.

"Useless." The voice grumbled bitterly as I felt my vision begin to blur. Chills ran down my spine with each light clang of the retreating footsteps across the metal catwalk above.

"Inki?" Hawks gently shook me awake.

I woke with a start and sat upright. It took me a moment to recognize my surroundings, I was at Hawks' apartment. He was standing next to me looking down at me in concern.

"You were having a nightmare," he noted.

I shook my head. It wasn't a nightmare...nightmares weren't real...I wished I had nightmares. They'd be welcome. I'd much rather have nightmares than relive the past.

Hawks frowned but didn't press the issue, "I can drop you off at the school on my way out."

I nodded and scrambled off of the couch.

"Are you going to change?" He pondered.

I looked down at my wrinkled dress. My inky black hair hung in tangled waves around me, I probably looked a mess but what difference did it make? Wasn't I always a mess?

"I have clothes for you in the bathroom." He pointed and shooed me off.

Reluctantly I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, I let the water work out what tangles it could and attempted to fight with the rest with my fingers but gave up after a while. There was a pretty black dress with white lace accents and some undergarments hanging on the back of the door. I wasn't sure why Hawks had clothing in my size on hand but decided against questioning it as I finished getting ready.

I returned to the living room to find Hawks already in his hero attire, ready to go. He handed me a bag that had the bento boxes I'd prepared inside. "Ready?" He asked with a smile.

I glanced at the bag with the bento tucked inside and felt anxiety and panic well up inside of me. What if she didn't like it? What if it was terrible? What if it made her sick? What if she'd just been being nice to me and didn't actually want anything to do with me? Had I been reading too much into her kindness?

Hawks frowned and waved a gloved hand in front of my face, "...why are you freaking out?"

"I-I'm n-not freaking o-out." I stammered as I felt my cheeks flush.

"If you say so." He smirked and reached for me.

I jumped as he swept me into his arms and carried me out to his balcony. The brisk morning air sent a chill down my spine. Hawks took flight and I clung to him tightly to keep from falling.

"Just a reminder, if you go sad puddle mode while we're airborne, we're both going to die." He noted with a knowing smirk as if he could tell I was falling into my dark twisted berating thoughts.

I nodded but said nothing. I closed my eyes and tried to will my thoughts to stop and focus on nothingness. My stomach suddenly fluttered as we began to descend rapidly. Maybe I'd accidentally turned everything around me into a dull monochrome nothingness and we were plummeting to our death. The thought of Hawks smeared across the pavement, his annoying smile lost forever, made my heart hurt. I tore my eyes open in a panic readying to withdraw my quirk, but saw Hawks smiling as he nose dived toward the ground. He let out a laugh as he noticed the look on my face.

"You thought you went sad puddle?" He snickered as he gracefully pulled up at the last second and we landed gently on the ground.

I threw him a scowl and shoved out of his hold before smoothing out my dress to keep him from seeing my trembling hands.

His obnoxious snickering stopped abruptly and I noticed his tawny eyes focusing on something behind me, "that must be colors." He smirked.

I felt my heart begin to pound in my chest and my lungs constrict sharply. Nervously I turned to look behind me and felt heat spread across my cheeks as I had to shield my eyes from the blinding array of colors bounding toward me. She spotted Hawks and paused curiously. Panic welled up inside of me as a strange expression crossed her face for a split second before she resumed her bounding, her expression seemed forced, the bright smile on her face not reaching her eyes.

"Inki-chan!"

There was a gust behind me as Hawks took off hastily.

Ms. Joke reached my side and looked in the direction Hawks had vanished curiously, "oh, he didn't want to stick around?" She asked. There was something else in her question, another question laced within but I didn't know what it was.

"He's annoying like that." I replied quietly.

"You two looked awfully close." She was still smiling but it was a weird smile, it wasn't right. Her eyes weren't smiling too, they looked hurt and confused.

"We had to be otherwise I would have fallen...not that it would have mattered" I replied blankly.

She paused, pondering my words for a moment before noticing the bag in my hand. "What's that?"

I meekly held up the bag, "...I tried to make us bento...it's probably terrible...I'm not very good at anything." I took a step back, readying to fall into a morose puddle. "I had to ask the annoying one for help, he's the only person I know who knows how to cook real food." I murmured. "...I set his kitchen on fire...we should probably just throw these away...I doubt they're any good-" I turned toward the school ready to flee but felt a hand lightly encircle my wrist. I turned to find a pair of dark green eyes lit up brightly, her blinding smile back in place.

"I bet it's perfect. I can't wait for lunch." She grinned and looped her arm through mine. Her entire demeanor had shifted and she seemed to relax as if she were relieved by something.

My heart raced in my chest.

"M-me t-too." I stammered, dazzled by her brightness.