The scarred skin pulled painfully at his face as the boy ripped off the bloodied bandages and hissed silent curses. There was no sensation on the burnt parts of his skin, most of his body couldn't feel a thing anymore. The burns had already healed as much as they ever would, but the seams between the stiff scarred parts and his healthy skin kept tearing open over and over again and refused to heal. Fresh streaks of blood ran down the boy's chin and he worried that his skin might end up completely peeled off from his face and arms along with the bandages. At this rate he might really end up dying. He wasn't sure if that would even be a bad thing. It might be for the best.
It had been months since that incident. He had been certain he'd died, and his family must have thought the same. Todoroki Touya had ceased to exist that day and no one would come looking for the boy. The fact that his body had never been found didn't matter. No one cared.
He didn't particularly miss the place he had called home or the people he had left behind. He had never felt welcome in that place anyway. He could hardly call those people 'family'. The whole incident had been that man's fault anyway. For a long time the boy had blamed himself and tried his hardest to get his father's approval. It had just made his mother look at him with disgust. She had tried her best to hide it - to turn her face away so he wouldn't notice her expression, but the boy knew. She hated his father, and she hated how much the boy resembled him.
The boy looked at the shattered mirror pieces on the floor of the storage building he was using as a temporary shelter. They reflected the distorted features of his face and the patchwork of scars he had all over his body. He smiled bitterly, causing more blood to trickle down from his wounds. Now the only thing about him that could remind anyone of his father was the color of his hair. His mother would never have to see Touya's disgusting face again.
His father – no - Todoroki Enji was probably just happy he was finally gone and out of his way. Touya had worked so hard to be the kind of son the man had wished for. But he was always too weak. It was never enough no matter how hard he tried. In the end his own body couldn't even take it. He remembered Enji's disappointment and how it had turned into fury. And his words. Enji had probably forgotten all about it by now, but the words stuck to the mind of the boy like a curse. "Ryutodabi," the man had called him. Like starting with a dragon's head but ending up with the tail of a snake, an utter disappointment after a promising start. He had inherited a powerful quirk from the man - enough to surpass his - and Enji had expected a lot from him, but in the end his body was weak and incompatible and Enji had blamed it all on Touya and his mother.
He had tried to show his father he could be the powerful 'dragon' he had hoped for, the successor that could even surpass the number one hero in power. Even after Touya had started hating his father for the things he did, that hatred only fueled his attempts to prove he was better than what that man thought. But in the end that had only led to this. He looked at the reflection of his face again and kicked away the piece of the mirror in disgust. It shattered into small fragments in the corner.
In the end he was just a 'snake', wasn't he? All he could do was to hide in some dark hole like this.
But even a snake could bite. If he'd survive this, maybe one day he could expose the fake justice of the hero known as Endeavor for all the world to see. He was still too weak, but the idea felt comforting and gave the boy a reason to stay alive, even if just a little longer. He'd love to strike down the system that was so corrupted it would even call someone like Endeavor a hero. And there was still a part of him that wanted to save his siblings from having to suffer like he had.
The tail of a snake, huh? "Dabi," the boy whispered the word deep in thought. He'd show that man what his disappointment of a son was truly capable of. "Dabi it is then," he decided with determination. He found it amusing that the word could be read as 'cremation' just as well. How truly fitting with his quirk! If 'Touya' was dead, he'd go by Dabi from now on. A cruel smile tore at his scarred skin as he thought about it, but he didn't care about the pain anymore. He had felt worse.
But he'd have to live a little longer to reach his goal. So Dabi resumed his attempts at replacing the bandages with new ones. He looked inside his bag and sighed heavily. The first aid kit he had stolen was almost empty already, he wouldn't have enough bandages to replace the wrappings on all of his wounds.
The boy cursed in frustration. He looked around the storage room almost desperately, but there was nothing that could be used for treating wounds, not even a piece of fabric he could turn into temporary bandages. Only random tools from some offices and construction sites that had been abandoned and forgotten there long ago, but not even a single piece of tape he could use as a bandaid.
Wait, what if… He looked inside one of the boxes that contained more tools, and there it was. He picked up a stapler and peeked inside. It was in a perfect working order with all the staples neatly lined up inside and ready to use.
"I guess this works too…" Dabi smiled bitterly as he pressed the cold metal tool against his torn skin. He clenched his teeth and squeezed the tool firmly.
The pain would have made him scream if he wasn't so used to it already. He closed his eyes as one staple after another pierced his skin, roughly attaching the scarred part to his healthy skin.
It's just another piercing, he thought. Just a new piece of metal on his face, on his hands, on his chest… He continued until all the seams of his scars had been stapled.
"Dabi, huh?" He found another piece of the mirror to look at himself and admired the results. He'd probably never get used to it, but at least he no longer looked like Enji and that idea made him at least a little bit happier. He couldn't really make an expression of any kind with his face as it was, but that was probably for the best too. Emotions would just get in the way, nothing good had ever come from showing his feelings.
Looking at his reflection, Dabi decided that he'd dye his hair. Black. Of course it should be black. With that idea on his mind, he left the storage building behind and disappeared into the night. It was still too early for the snake to show its head.