Chapter Twenty-Five

                                    

                                          
It's a tale as old as time, Icarus and the Sun. It's a tale that he had used to be fond of when he was a child. From his slated windowed cage, he'd look out through the bars and stare up as the sun would dutifully begin its trek far across the endless stretch of the sky. He'd sit there, silent as he was warmed and greeted by the beams that had managed to cut through the window. Keigo would often stretch his tiny hand out the window in blind hopes that he would finally be able to greet the sun back. In his young mind, his only path to freedom was to break through the titanium bars that his feathers could never cut through.
                          
Keigo had hungrily read the story and the various iterations of it. He would soak up the tale and tell himself that he would never repeat that mistake. As he would watch sun rise upon sun rise after sun rise, Keigo always told himself that he would be different.
                          
His wings were not made of wax and chicken feathers. They could not melt and he would never plummet to the ocean. Keigo had vowed that he would prove his caretakers wrong.
                          
That had been nothing more than desperate, wishful thinking that maybe one day he would have control over his own life, thoughts and actions. That one day, he could grow back the feathers that had been clipped, rip off the blinder cast over his eyes and embrace his true self. That he was not a meek and timid little sparrow, but rather the deadly bird of prey that is worthy of respect.
                          
It was just a simple child's pipe dream that never could come true no matter how hard he pushed himself. It was once he realized his idle daydreams and wishes were only that. He was not a reincarnation of Icarus and the sun was not his freedom, just a sad mockery of the symbolism of his unattainable freedom.
                          
Keigo would break his soul into a thousand different pieces and sculpted himself into an unbeatable golem that was casted from clay at the Commission's beck and call. Now made from clay, he had willingly carved the word 'truth seeker' into his forehead for his superiors. He had willingly laid his heart aside and thrown himself into a fiery kiln until nothing could ever get past him and he was naught but an impassive man hiding behind a mask. How sad that once he had started to stray from their apparent words of truth, they had scratched out the etching and instead forcibly carved 'dead' into his cracking façade. Labeling him nothing more than a dead and worthless man with no future.
                          
He had his childhood ripped away and he had sacrificed his own moral beliefs for the sake of heroics. Innocent blood had long since stained his hands, seeping into his pores and leaving him with the permanent reminder of the deaths that plague him. He had crossed the line long ago but had consistently covered the cracks with more clay. Keigo had thought that he had moved past everything. Unbeknownst to him, those once healed fractures of each broken piece still continued to crack ever so slightly, by the time Dabi had come strolling into his life, Keigo had already been crumbling beneath the pressure of everyone's lives and expectations.
                          
Keigo had grown accustomed to the roaring fire that constantly threatens to burn him. He would hide behind his clay shell, knowing he had already forged himself from fire and he cannot be hurt again. What Keigo hadn't expected was for Dabi to come surging forward, not with fire but with ice cold water from a murky grey ocean. Those merciless waves crashed against him and eventually eroded him away until Hawks was nothing but a distant memory and Keigo was baptized in the frigid waters of the actual truth.
                          
It's ironic that Dabi had been the one to open his eyes to everything. Dabi had left him with the broken remains of his blinder and forced Keigo to face the ugly truth. That truth had been like staring up at that sun, blinding him with the harsh facts. No matter how much he had cried and wanted to turn away, those sunspots will forever be seared in his sight and Keigo will never again be able to turn away from the truth that had burned him so mercilessly.
                          
He supposes that this is his price to pay for being a fool.
                          
Now Keigo sits in silence, listening to Dabi weep.
                          
Everything hurts but his heart hurts most of all. His heart and soul cry out, begging for a second chance to redo everything over again. There has been so much pain and too many mistakes. In Keigo's mind, he knows that they'll never be able to go back to how they once were. Keigo will try his best to salvage the charred remains of their relationship.
                          
He knows that they've both strayed too far from the light; now they're nothing more than two blind men leading each other down a mountain full of pitfalls and traps. At the end of the day, Keigo still deeply loves Dabi with all of his heart. Keigo will do all that he can to drag Dabi out from the mess he's created upon himself.
                          
Keigo wraps his arms tightly around Dabi and weeps with him.