AN: Hello! After ignoring this account and neglecting to write any stories for so long, here I am! I hope you enjoy this story. For me, it's so fun to write Todoroki as a girl. Also, I am aware I'm screwing with the name's kanji by calling her Shoko, but I couldn't find anything better that sounded like a name. Sorry haha. Anyway! Please tell me your thoughts! I'm not super far into MHA, which is why most of my stories will be AUs like this one (kinda, since it takes place in the canon universe), but I enjoy the characters very much! Anyway, this one takes place before the whole Bakugo getting kidnapped incident, but after Dabi and Toga joined the League of Villains. Sorry for the long-ass author's note haha.

The pain of the burns marking Shoko's body felt dull, despite the fact that they were fresh. She tried not to stumble through the rain, wanting to have some form of dignity left. She was far from home, and on the wrong side of the tracks, but if someone were to attack her, she probably wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have been able to win a fight with her injuries, anyway.

"Look at me."

She gritted her teeth, though her expression barely changed. Her eyes looked almost dead as she searched for a place to rest. Had it been foolish to run away here? Maybe. But she knew it wasn't safe to stay home.

"You're a failure, like all the others."

Stopping, Shoko drew breath. The pain in her burns began to flare up again and she staggered. She tried to right herself, only to fall against a nearby building. She urged herself to get up, but her head had begun to spin. She could smell her own singed hair and burnt flesh. Pain was something she was used to. She could take a beating, and could deal with it. This was somehow different. Though she knew he wouldn't have killed her, she had been afraid. She wasn't used to being afraid as she had been as a child. Angry, yes. The fear was different.

Shoko's vision began to blur. The street lights seemed to shift before her as she tried to stand. She knew that she was an easy target like this, and she didn't want to be attacked when she was so vulnerable. As she managed to pull herself to her feet, she couldn't help the pained noise that escaped her lips.

"Look. At. Me."

All she could feel were the places she'd been burned as she staggered and fell once again. The world was spinning around her. Other than the pain that shot through her body, the last thing she remembered was arms reaching to pick her up as she blacked out.

When she came to, Shoko might have thought she'd had a nightmare if she wasn't still in pain from the burns. However, being in an unfamiliar bed made her tense. She knew she wasn't the home she'd run away from, which now felt like a harebrained idea. She hadn't planned it out at all, and she was now in a stranger's home, possibly about to get hurt.

Shoko didn't yet open her eyes, trying to still feign sleep in case anyone was watching her. She could feel something pressed against each of her burns, even the one on her waist. Had she been taken to a hospital? No, this bed wasn't a hospital bed. Too comfortable. She wondered if it was someone she knew who had taken her in, but she wasn't sure about that either. The area of town she'd run to hadn't exactly been the type of place UA students would frequent, and especially not at night.

Shoko opened her eyes to slits, just so she could try to make out what was around her, in case she needed to make a quick escape. Of course, she knew she shouldn't be going anywhere in her condition. She couldn't see anyone in her line of sight, only a somewhat dingy looking wall and part of the duvet that covered her body. She shifted her gaze downwards, and saw a bandage on her wrist.

"... a failure..."

A creak sounded from behind her, and Shoko closed her eyes again. It was better to appear asleep, and bide her time as she figured out her situation.

"You haven't left since you found her... Have a crush?" A mocking, raspy voice sounded that made Shoko's blood run cold. She remained still, but she knew that if he felt like it, the owner of that voice could disintegrate her with a mere touch, "I didn't take you for the type to like younger girls."

"No. I don't," The other voice sounded bored, "I just know that you and all the rest would fuck it up and end up with a bad case of frostbite." Shoko could have sworn she recognised the other voice as well, but couldn't exactly place where.

"You think I don't know how to keep a high schooler from acting up?" Shigaraki huffed, "You didn't even restrain her. If she attacks you and tries to escape, it's not my fault if she turns to dust."

"She won't be able to. You saw those burns and bruises on her, she's in no condition to fight. She'll just end up hurting herself."

Footsteps got closer, and though Shoko remained still, they suddenly stopped.

"No touching," The familiar voice said.

"Jeez, you really do have a thing for her. Stabby wasn't kidding..."

Shoko knew that escape was near impossible. Even with her quirk, she was still injured and wouldn't be able to fight off one villain, let alone the top dog of the League of Villains. She wasn't sure why they had kept her alive, or why one of them had apparently bandaged her injuries. She wondered why they didn't just kill her. She was the daughter of the second strongest hero, afterall, and a promising student at UA. She wondered if, perhaps, they'd rather kill her in public where more people could see. Even so, this didn't explain why one of them had apparently bandaged her wounds.

"She's nothing to me," The voice said, "But she'll be useful to the League."

"Oh sure, you say that."

"Don't you have some stuff to disintegrate? Or do anything other than bother me?" The voice sounded irritated, and Shoko tried to recall where she'd heard the voice before. There was silence for a minute that felt like forever for Shoko, before the door opened and closed again. She heard a sigh, then more silence. Shoko remained still, trying to process what she had just heard. She knew that she was in a dangerous position. Whatever the villains might try to do, she wasn't sure she'd be able to get out of it with her life.

"I had such high hopes for you."

"Oi, Todoroki. I know you're awake, so why don't you stop faking?"

Shoko tensed, but didn't look over for a moment. She then tried to turn, only to suck in breath as pressure was put on more of her burns. Her pain threshold was normally pretty high, and though she'd felt almost numb when she last remembered, the pain seemed to flow into the rest of her body from her injuries.

She heard a sigh, then footsteps approaching the bed. She saw someone walking into her field of vision, someone she didn't recognise. His skin was patchy and burned looking, held together by staples in some places. As he crouched beside the bed, she met his eyes. She quickly averted her gaze, something she wouldn't normally have done if his eyes hadn't sparked a feeling of dread. Why? She didn't understand, since she couldn't recall meeting him before. She assumed it was due to the fact that she was being held by the League of Villains.

"What the hell did he do to you...?" The scarred man didn't seem to be talking to her, but there didn't seem to be anyone else in the room. Shoko felt his calloused hand tilt her head so that she was looking at him again, "Well... If we're being honest, I didn't expect us to meet like this. I go by Dabi."

"..." Shoko said nothing, meeting his eyes again. She felt the sense of dread, seeing the cerulean color again. Though her jaw tensed, she tried to disguise the fear.

"I'd leave you to yourself, but... Bad Touch over there isn't exactly happy about keeping a wannabe hero around." He let go of her head. Shoko turned her gaze away again, "But I have an offer for you."

"An offer?" She didn't know what he knew about what had happened, nor why he had apparently bandaged her injuries.

"I'll keep you hidden from him."