TWISTED EMBERS
Chapter 1: Heroes & Villains

Curiosity and a kind heart sure can get you into a lot of trouble!
But then again... don't villains need kindness the most?
Would that make befriending them a heroic deed?
Or would it just make everything super complicated?

Nejire/Dabi.
Eventual Shigaraki/OC.
Contains manga spoilers.

Dust spiraled and fluttered around the air as another chunk of concrete crashed into the sidewalk, narrowly missing Pro Hero Ryukyu as she jumped back, a protective arm raising up to keep her intern from rushing forward. "Nejire, direct engagement isn't working with this guy." The screams of civilians filled the block as an unknown villain hovered high in the air above them, seemingly able to slice buildings apart with a flick of his wrist. Debris was scattered all along the street, having crushed cars and destroyed storefronts, and a frightened crowd frantically ran for cover.

"Totally! So like, what should we do?" The blue-haired female asked with excitement, her sapphire hues locked onto the villain.

"I'll stay here and try to protect anyone from getting injured. You try and flank him from behind— it looks like he's flying with some sort of device, so try and damage it. Let's get him on the ground."

"Yeah, yeah! Got it!"

Nejire darted off to the side, running down an alleyway to flee from the villain's line of sight and escape his attention. Ryukyu stayed at the front line, her body effortlessly transforming into a large dragon. With a vicious roar escaping her massive jaws, she used her scaled wings to shield those behind her from more falling debris.

"AHAHAHA~!" The villain's laughter challenged the Dragon Hero's roar as he gestured to the side, the building next to him crumbling further, its falling chunks shooting towards the dragon and crashing against her wings and the ground around her. "You really think a single hero and a child in training can stop me?!"

"Don't kid yourself— it's only a matter of time before more pros show up. You really think you can take on all of us?"

"More pros? Oh my, I'd be flattered! I hate to think I have such a low chance of victory... but, oh well! What can you do, hm~?"

Her eyes widened slightly as she reached up with a claw to strike down the flying debris. "You expect to lose? Then, what's your motive?"

"Motive—hahaha! What a curious notion! Do you think you can save everyone until backup arrives? If I can kill just one person... you've lost!" He broke out into laughter once more, both arms stretching out now as he prepared for a grand gesture, likely for an attack on a much larger scale than what he'd been using so far. However, before he could begin, a sudden shockwave of energy blasted him from behind, knocking him forward.

"Hey, hey! That thing on your back, it looks important!" The young heroine-in-training grinned, using her own Quirk to fly closer to him. "Do ya know what'll happen if I shoot it? Do ya?"

"NO NO NO—stop that— don't—!"

He tried to recover, to spin around and attack her directly, but another shockwave hit the jetpack attached to the back of his suit and it began to gurgle and choke and short out. As it lost power, he began to drop, cursing and shouting until it finally gave out completely. The dragon reached out to grab the falling villain with her claws, but with another flick of his wrist he pulled up a slab of pavement to create a barrier between them. She let out a growl and destroyed the barrier with a back-handed swipe, but he was already out of sight. She'd barely caught a glimpse of his figure as he disappeared from view, but Nejire quickly descended and hit the ground running.

"Nejire, wait!" Her call was useless, as the girl had disappeared as quickly as the villain had. She wanted to run after her intern, but knew she needed to stay and make sure no one had been hurt.

Nejire panted quietly, slowing to a stop to catch her breath, hands resting on her knees. She glanced up and all around, blinking for a moment as she wondered to herself where he might have gone. She'd been hot on his trail but he'd taken so many turns that she was afraid she'd lost him. Hearing a sound, she quickly perked up and caught his afterimage as he rounded another corner, and took off running again—only to bump into another person as he suddenly emerged from the corner. With an oof! she stumbled back, looking up to see a male with jet-black spiked hair, whose face was covered in burn scars and staples. Immediately she recognized him as a villain previously described on the news, when he and others attacked her lower-classmates at U.A's training camp.

"Now now, we can't have you following us this far." He spoke, his voice calm yet still threatening as he advanced towards her, attempting to stop her pursuit.

"Hey hey, I know you! You're with the League of Villains, aren't you! Yeah!" Furrowing her brow and pouting her lip, she tried to match his challenging demeanor. "So that guy is with you, huh? Is he? Is he with the League?" Her eyes widened slightly as he approached, stepping backwards to try and keep a bit of distance between them. He casually smiled, the staples tugging at the corners of his mouth as he held out his hand. Bright blue flames sputtered from his palm and quickly traveled up the burned, purple scars of his arms.

"Sorry, can't let you go any further. Might as well just turn ba—" His words were cut off as a spiraling wave of energy hit him directly in the chest, knocking him back several feet. He managed to catch himself, glaring to the female with a low growl as she stood her ground, arm outstretched as she prepared for another blast.

"Didja know? That's not what heroes do!"

"And what do you know about being a hero?" He asked with a snarl, flames engulfing both arms now as he prepared to counterattack. "You just want the praise."

She fired out another blast as he suddenly charged towards her. He managed to dodge, his arm flaring up as he shot a burst of flames, and she used another blast to dissipate the fire as she jumped out of the way. Both were extremely fast, agile, level-headed fighters, and their spar took them further down the street and into an alleyway. They seemed entirely neck-and-neck, neither one having been able to land a solid hit since they began, until Nejire took a step back and slipped on a piece of litter, losing her balance just long enough for Dabi to take advantage. Rushing forward, he slammed her up against the side of the building and she flinched with a yelp, pain shooting down her spine.

"Heh. You're pretty good. What a shame."

His blue flames flickered up around her, but before he could do anything more, she released a powerful pulse of energy from her entire body. He went flying backwards, across the alley and hitting against the side of the adjacent building, the force from the blast cracking the concrete as he fell to the ground. Trembling from the impact, he picked himself up, barely to his knees when he saw her leap towards him.

"HEY, LOOK OUT~!"

It had all happened so fast, it took him a moment to process everything. She'd dashed towards him, but—the look on her face, her widened and panicked eyes, it wasn't anything like what he'd seen from her during their brief scuffle. She hadn't attacked him either, instead towering over him, almost protectively, hands out and planted against the wall as she leaned over him, shielding him with her body. It wasn't until the damaged A/C unit bounced off her back and onto the ground that he realized what had just happened. The force that sent him flying must have knocked the unit out of place, and she must have noticed it falling from above while he was struggling to get to his feet.

"What...? A-Are you ok—" His voice trailed off as he gazed up at her, still in her protective position. Her eyes had softened and begun to close, expression becoming blank. He could see her body start to waver and quickly stood up to catch her before she collapsed. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of her face and his hand felt for the source of the injury, fingers running through her thick blue wavy locks before finding a cut at the back of her head. Shit, he thought, glancing over to the A/C unit on the ground. Why did she...? He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. It didn't matter... it shouldn't matter. Not to him.

He knew she needed help, and gently scooped her up in his arms. Spinning around, he left the alleyway, wondering to himself where he could drop her off at— but froze instead, as Toga stood before him. Her eyes lit up as she saw the unconscious heroine in his arms, a feverish blush spreading across her cheeks as she grinned.

"Ooooh~ whaddaya got there, Dabi?"

He blinked, lowering his head as his bright sky-blue eyes glanced from the female in his grasp to the one standing in front of him. "She tried to stop me. Managed to knock her out."

"OHH~ fun, fun! Can we kill her?!"

"Geez, ya psycho, she's not even a pro... there's no point in killing her. We can just leave her somewhere and return to—"

"LEAVE her? No way! Come on, she's already bleeding a little! Let me kill her!"

"No." He said firmly, his grip tightening on her. "That wouldn't serve any purpose. If anything..." Again, his gaze wandered down to her. "...perhaps Shigaraki would appreciate us bringing back a hostage."

"UGH— seriously? Hostages are no fun!"

"Yeah, well that dipshit new recruit didn't even claim a single casualty. At least with a hostage, it might not have all been in vain. Besides... this girl is a senior at U.A, right? That makes her pretty valuable to us. We'll see what Shigaraki says."

With a loud series of groans and complaints, Toga and Dabi walked off together towards the League's headquarters, his grip remaining tight and somewhat protective of the unconscious Nejire. The same question continued to burn in his mind, repeating itself over and over.

Why did she protect me?

author's note;
Damn, it's been a hot minute since I've actually sat down and written something! x_x
I feel like I'm hella rusty, lmao. But I've been roleplaying in the BnHA verse lately and felt like writing a fic again!
Especially because I wanna gain some supporters of this obscure af Nejire/Dabi ship... xD
I just think they would be super cute! The cinnamon roll and the badass!
ALSO there's just not ENOUGH fics for Nejire OR Dabi! ;-;

I also made a Nejire RP tumblr, so anyone is welcome to leave me messages or follow azurexsurge ! :D

As always, FEEDBACK is ADORED! Let me know if you're enjoying it! ;-;