"Iz?" Hanta asked as soon as he answered the phone. He had never had the heart to delete the man's number from his phone, having assumed he'd gotten a new one over the years. He had clearly been wrong. 

"Hanta," Akira answered, her voice breathless from relief. Calling her brother was always a gamble on whether he would answer or not. He couldn't exactly take a phone call in the middle of a fight. 

"Akira?! Where are you? Are you okay? Why the hell do you have Izuku's phone?" 

The questions were spouted off one after the other, giving the young woman no time to answer before the next was asked. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, risking a glance at the villain still standing a few feet away. "He got me out, I don't know where we are," she said honestly, looking around at the buildings and streets she'd never seen before. It wasn't a nice part of the city, somewhere her mother had never allowed her to go growing up, one bad enough she'd never pushed the boundary, even as a rebellious teen. 

"Give him the phone," Hanta instructed quickly. He knew he shouldn't trust the villain, not after everything he'd done, but he'd gotten his sister back. Izuku had promised to get them back, and he was following through. Hanta wasn't sure what to make of the man anymore. 

Izuku rolled his eyes, Hanta's panicked voice loud enough for him to hear the command, even a few feet away. He held his hand out and Akira timidly placed the device in his palm. "Meet at the roof, I can already feel eyes on us." He didn't bother waiting for a response before ending the call. 

He was exhausted and wanted the day to be over already. 

"Come on," he said back to the woman, nodding his head in the direction he knew would lead to the roof he had first met Hanta on. Earlier in the day, he'd snatched a cardinal direction quirk, nothing fancy. He just knew which way was north. 

"Are you going to tell me why I was kidnapped?" Akira asked after a few moments of silence. She had tried to steel her voice, but it trembled slightly as she spoke. Her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes darting in every direction as they walked. Izuku had said someone was already watching them. 

"Not here," he said with a scoff. He had finally pinpointed where the prickling sensation of being watched was coming from. He quickly sent his flames off, turning to Akira for only a second. "Don't look." 

Akira, who had been tracking the fire, instantly turned back to him in surprise, just as an ear-piercing scream rang through the desolate town. Her eyes widened at the sound, physically unable to move as Izuku stared her down. "Wh-what was that?" she asked, too terrified to bother being annoyed at her stuttering. 

"A parting gift," he answered vaguely. "Let's go. You're brother's probably already waiting for us." He tried to keep the annoyance from his voice, but it didn't work. Akira had just been through one of the most traumatic events in her life, he was trying to make it easier on her. He wasn't doing a good job. 

When they reached the building, Hanta was already there and scanning the roads below for any sign of them. He leaped down, using his tape to slow his descent. Akira was immediately pulled into a tight hug, one she reciprocated with the same ferocity. "You're okay," the hero breathed, some of the tension in his shoulder easing at having one of his sisters back. 

"But they still have mom, and-" Akira started to ramble, the weight of what she had just gone through finally getting to her, making her crack. 

"Not for long," Izuku said, cutting her off. He wasn't a reassuring person, but he was trying. 

Both siblings looked over at him, neither letting go of the other. "Thank you," Hanta said softly, letting his eyes drop to the ground between them. He had berated Izuku earlier in the day, yet he had pulled off what none of the pros had managed. 

"I didn't do it for you," Izuku said with a shrug. He wasn't sure if it was a lie anymore. Originally, he had done it for the flames. They had gone into a blind rage at having the girls held against their wills, not settling since they'd been taken. He'd done it for his own reasons, none of which involved Hanta, not anymore. At least that was what he kept telling himself. 

"Why'd you do it then?" Akira asked clear disdain in her voice that surprised both men. Her calculating glare was pinned to the villain, making amusement spark in him. 

"Aki," Hanta said quickly, scolding her for her tone. Izuku wasn't the same as back when they had first met, he wasn't sure how the villain would take being snapped at. 

Izuku ignored the blatant disrespect, not even phased. Akira still had her spirit and he was happy about that. Instead, he lit his palm on fire, watching as the flames danced and sparked. "For them. I'm pretty sure they like Hina more than me," he answered honestly, a small frown forcing the sides of his lips to point down. 

"Bakugou wasn't kidding, then," Hanta said, his eyes on the fire in the villain's hand. It meant that Izuku didn't have as much power over the flames as he first thought. He also knew that they had a soft spot for his sisters and himself. Suddenly, the other man wasn't nearly as terrifying as before. 

At the mention of the blond hero, the flames roared, growing tall enough to peak over Izuku's head. "He needs to shut his fat mouth before I shut it for him," Izuku hissed, closing his fist and watching the fire die in his hand. 

Hanta couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his face at the words. It was so similar to what Bakugou had said to him after their altercation in the woods. It had never been so obvious that the two men had grown up together. 

He shook the feeling off, more important matters needed to be discussed. "You can't hurt people to get them back." 

"Watch me," Izuku snapped back, already feeling his core start to heat up. Even if the flames loved Hanta, they didn't like being told what to do. 

The faint notion of a question appeared in the back of his mind, pushing and prodding. "What's Hina's favorite animal?" he asked before he could even register what he'd said. 

"What?" Hanta asked, caught completely off guard by the seemingly random question. 

Izuku's jaw ticked in annoyance, already knowing where the question had come from. "What's her favorite animal?" he asked again, letting some of his exhaustion slip into his voice. Hanta was gullible when Izuku let his guard down. 

"Wolves, I think?" 

Izuku didn't even feel it when the fire left him, instead taking the shape of a burning wolf next to him. It tilted its head while looking up at him as if to ask if he was impressed. "You're fucking ridiculous," he grumbled. 

"Since when could your quirk do that?" Akira asked in awe, looking over at the wolf. 

Izuku just shrugged, turning his attention back to the siblings. "Quirks evolve all the time. Mine got a shitty personality for some reason." He had a sneaking suspicion it had melded with another quirk he'd taken long ago, but no real evidence to back it up. The only person who could have provided him with answers was dead. It would just have to remain a mystery. 

"So... it's a pet now?" Akira asked with unveiled interest. Izuku hadn't pegged her for a quirk researcher, but he also barely knew anything about her anymore. 

"I don't give a fuck what it is, it's annoying and pushy," Izuku said, his glare turning to the wolf beside him. The only response he got was a burning tongue hanging from the side of its mouth. He let a sigh escape him, looking back to Hanta. "You should get her out of here. Keep her safe this time." 

The jab had the intended effect, making Hanta's face scrunch in shame at failing to protect his family earlier. It wasn't because Izuku wanted to make him feel like shit, but he needed to understand how serious this was. Shigaraki would kill Akira if he got his hands back on her, literally. Izuku couldn't risk it. 

Hanta unwrapped his arms from his sister, pushing her back just a hair. "She'll be fine, this is your jurisdiction." 

"Doesn't mean much these days," Izuku drawled, eyeing up the hero as he took a step in his direction. 

Hanta rolled his eyes at the theatrics, grabbing Izuku's wrist and pulling him a few feet away, just out of earshot of his sister without leaving the field of view. He trusted Izuku and the reputation he had built for himself, but it was his sister. He wasn't letting her out of his sight. 

"Thank you, lightning bug. For getting her back," Hanta said again, wanting nothing more than to brush away a stray curl that had fallen into the shorter man's face. He didn't want to push his luck, though. 

Izuku's eyes looked behind him, feeling more at ease seeing that his fire was sitting dutifully next to Akira, letting the woman cautiously pet its head in awe. "I had to hurt people to do it," he pointed out, his eyes traveling back up to Hanta's. 

"I know and I hate it, but it was for her. I can't do what you did to get her back, but that doesn't mean I'm not grateful you did it," Hanta admitted quietly, the confession only for Izuku to hear. There were certain things he could never say as a pro hero, and that was one of them. 

Izuku mused over his words, muffled amusement taking over his features. "Doesn't sound very heroic, if you ask me." 

The hero decided to throw caution to the wind, finally tucking the strand of green hair behind Izuku's ear and letting his hand cup his cheek. "I was trained by a villain, what can you expect?" he teased back. 

Izuku allowed himself a moment of weakness, leaning into the foreign touch that still managed to feel familiar at the same time. "We can't do this again," he said in a quiet voice but made no move to step away. "We're on opposite sides of this war." 

"When has that ever stopped us?" Hanta whispered in reply, his voice begging Izuku. For what, he wasn't even sure himself. A chance at what they once had? Something entirely new? A sliver of hope that it wasn't truly all over? 

Izuku shook his head, gently removing Hanta's hand from his face, letting it fall back to the hero's side. "It's different now, Hanta. I'm a murderer, drowning in all the blood I've spilled. You can't redeem me this time." His voice was nothing but defeat, no hope left in sight. 

"Watch me, lightning bug." 

Izuku's eyes snapped to meet his, cold determination met him. "You can't be serious," he said in utter disbelief. "You're a hero, you can't just ignore everything I've done." 

"I already have, Iz." There was nothing but absolute honesty in his voice. Izuku couldn't pick out an ounce of lie or hesitation. 

"I'm dangerous, Hanta." 

The raven-haired man rolled his eyes, an easy smile slipping onto his lips. "Your scariest quirk is letting my sister give it belly rubs right now, I'm not worried." 

Izuku didn't bother to correct him. The flames were not the worst quirk he currently held possession of, but Hanta knew that. He was trying to ease the tension, to give any evidence that they could somehow work. "You'll get hurt," he said instead, a little breathless as Hanta took another step closer, eliminating the space between them. They stood chest to chest. 

"Pain doesn't scare me, Iz, not anymore. Losing you again is what keeps me up at night." The confession was soft and intimate, stealing all the air from Izuku's lungs in one fell swoop. 

The moment Hanta leaned down, Izuku's brain started to function. He quickly pushed him away, taking a step back just to add more space between them. "We can't," he said quickly, his eyes darting to the right where he'd heard a barely-there noise, but it was enough. 

Hanta's eyes followed his, looking cluelessly down the road in front of him. 

"Not here," Izuku said, so softly the hero almost missed it. "Take your sister and go home. I'll... I'll see you soon." 

It was the best the hero was going to get at the moment, and he knew that. He cut his losses and called to his sister. Her disappointment at being pulled away from the flaming dog was obvious, but she listened nonetheless. 

Izuku didn't get back home for another hour. He had stuck to the shadows, trailing them until he was sure they were safe back at Hanta's place. Only then did he feel relaxed enough to return to his apartment and deal with the force of nature known as Himiko Toga. 

bone apple teeth :)