He feels like a ticking time bomb, like a beaten and caged animal. Touya throws himself out of the bed and lurches over to his closet, telling himself that he can't do this again.

Not again. Not again. Not again.

Yanking open the closet door, he searches through the pile of discarded laundry on the floor until he picks up a bag with shaking hands. Touya begins to stuff clothes into the bag, staying alert for any other approaching footsteps. He has no idea how the lady's quirk works, if this is just some sort of twisted nightmare or she really did banish him back to a time before he knew what freedom really tasted like.

He decides that he doesn't care, whichever it is, he'll take matters into his own, unmarred hands. All he wants is to be back in his shitty hole of a room surrounded by other chaotic and broken souls that understand him and accept him. If he stays one more minute in this house again, he's worried that he will lose what little sanity he has left.

Hurling the bag over his shoulder, he cracks the door open and peeks around. The hallway is empty and he creeps out.

Socked feet pad quietly through the massive, yet suffocating, house and once he sees the front door- he quickens his pace.

"Touya?" A small and chubby hand tugs on his pants leg and he tenses. Slowly turning around he sees a young Shouto still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Hey." Touya manages to choke out, seeing his younger brother so little without his signature burn makes his heart sink.

"Where're you going?" Touya looks around the room before kneeling down in front of his brother and gathers him up in a tight hug. Shouto lets out a small squeak at the sudden embrace and tries to weakly wiggle away. Touya clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, evening out his breathing and pulls away to look his brother in the eyes.

"I have to fix this," Confusion swims in Shouto's eyes and Touya only smiles sadly, "I will fix everything. Just wait a little bit longer, Shouto. Things will get better." His fingers dig sharply into Shouto's shoulders and the little boy looks up at him in fear.

"You're hurting me." Touya pulls way like he's been set on fire and stares at his brother before slowly standing up and turning back to the door.

"I'll see you again, Shouto." He murmurs and opens the front door, leaving like he once had so long ago in a different lifetime.

Touya runs a hand through his bright red hair and curses to himself. He has no idea where to go or what even to do. His mind begins to grow hazy the further he gets from the large manor and passes out on the ground.

When he comes to, he's back in bed with his mother looking down at him with worry.

"Touya, what's going on?" Her cold hand rests gently on his brow and he jolts away from her as if her touch had burnt his skin.

"Y-you're not real!"

"Touya." She starts, biting her bottom lip and slowly pulls her hand away, "What's gotten into you?" He jumps from his bed and edges around the wall to stay as far away from her as he can.

"None of this is real." She moves towards him and he fervently shakes his head, "Stay away!" Her grey eyes turn steely and she purses her lips to a tight frown.

"And just what will you do if I don't?" He pauses, confused. She still looks like his mother but the voice isn't her own. His hand ignites out of instinct and she throws back her head to laugh.

"Set me on fire? Boy, you'll only become more like your father." Her face begins to slough and in towering in front of him is the flaming figure of his father.

"Get the fuck away!" Touya screams and dashes around him and locks himself in the bathroom.

Boom

Touya is thrown back by the explosion, he shields his face from the oncoming heat wave out of reflex. A cackle bubbles up through his thin body and he leans back against the wall of the bathroom. His fire hungrily eats everything in its wake, he can only watch as the old wallpaper turns black and curls. He can't stop laughing, the dry and hot air burns his lungs but he doesn't care.

For the first time in his life, he feels alive.

Even when the sprinklers finally kick on and snuff out his fire, he laughs.

When he's carried out on a stretcher with medics all around him, asking him a series of questions that he doesn't register- he doesn't stop laughing.

He's alive.

And it's fantastic.

"Has anyone seen Dabi?" Toga enters the bar and Tomura peeks over the edge of the newspaper, shrugging.

"He's probably passed out drunk in some alley." His answer doesn't seem to satisfy Toga and she makes her way over to him. He tries to ignore her as he goes back to reading the newspaper. There's an article about some deranged woman that's been striking around their city, attacking anyone she sees, be it civilian, villain or hero. According to the article, she's been suspending people in time bubbles to make them face their fears.

While he wouldn't mind having someone like that on his team, there's something sinister about her- something wildly off. No one knows what she looks like or where she even came from, all the reports say is that her eyes glow a violet light when she activates her quirk. It seems to be all that anyone can remember when they come to.

It's times like this that he wishes that he could take quirks like All For One. He doesn't think that he could handle another wild card in his team without losing his mind. Just then, Twice bursts through the back door with a body thrown over his shoulder.

"Boss! It's Dabi! He ain't waking up." Tomura takes a long look towards Twice and the unconscious Dabi and back at the news article he was just reading. His pinkies touch the paper and it quickly decays in his hands.

Fuck his daydreams of having a quirk user like that on his team, because it just got personal. He rises from the bar stool and stalks over to the two men. Twice lays Dabi gently on the sofa and Tomura looks over him, more burns seem to be present over his skin and he clenches his jaw. Turning away from Dabi and Twice, he takes out his cellphone and scrolls through his short contact list until he reaches Giran's number. Raising the phone to his ear, he waits as it continues to ring before the broker finally answers.

"Ah, Shigaraki, what can I do for you today?" Tomura glances over his shoulder to Dabi and frowns.

"I need you to get here stat. We have some business to go over."

Author's Note

Am I going to name my chapters after good old emo songs? Hell yes. Am I ashamed? Hell no.

Sorry that this chapter took a bit to write out, I wasn't quite sure how to progress with it but decided to wing it like usual.
That's all for now, reviews are always welcome!