"You're not done here? I thought your job was to dispose of her." Geten asked as she followed Dabi back to the building where they'd fought.

"Just checking out some things. You can leave if you want," Dabi said as he turned and walked towards the warehouse.

He expected her to whizz away on her ice, but he heard footsteps behind. He turned back to see her following with her head down.

"What…Ugh. Fine." He pocketed his hands.

"It's not like I can leave, I don't have any more ice, and I can't walk all the way back or ride the bike," Geten defended.

The two walked into the warehouse they fought Takame in, which was easy to identify with its shattered walls and charred floor.

Dabi mindlessly ran his hand over the engraved text of "Bushido Enterprises". He'd seen this place before. Well, not this particular factory, but it seemed this company duplicated their structures down to the blueprint across the country, perhaps with the help of one or more quirks.

He forgot what they were in the business of. Was it weaponry? Construction materials? Or perhaps that innocent building, a twin to this one, was the unfortunate venue chosen for gangs to meet.

He winded through the narrow passageways, with Geten trailing him. How had he known where he was going, as he evaded Takame? The memory had returned to him last night and lingered till now. He retraced his steps, and found himself in a massive clearing, in the centre of the building.

Dabi exhaled as flashes of that night struck his mind like lightning. Fire. Screams. A roar above it all. Yet as quickly as they came, they dissipated, leaving only frustration.

"What are you looking at?" Geten said.

"Not sure," Dabi uttered. He pressed his hands into his skull, trying to constrict his head into squeezing those lost thoughts out. A chair in the centre, blinded by a spotlight, andthe last spark of memory fizzled out. His head snapped up to the catwalk above, but there was no spotlight.

"Trying to remember something?"

He looked at her with his mouth hanging, before he regained his composure. "Maybe," he admitted. "How would you know?"

"I've...done something similar." She kicked a pebble across the room with her hands in her pocket. "I looked like that when I was frustrated."

"Your name?" He hadn't forgotten.

She nodded after a pause. "I guess you're trying to remember your old name too?"

Noting the blank look on his face, she scoffed. "Come on, don't think I didn't know Dabi wasn't your birth name when we met."

He waved it off. "I know my name. I've abandoned it. And don't ask me what it is." He added with a spark of assertiveness.

"Wasn't planning to, you have your own secrets, I have mine…" She murmured, "Let's leave it at that."

Dabi nodded, feeling a twitch of guilt. He sat against one of the crates and looked up at her.

"What about yesterday? Care to tell me now it's all over?" His eyes met hers in spite of her wearing her hood.

She sighed and sat down opposite him. For a few moments, it was only the two of them suspended in silence. Rays of sunlight permeated through the windows, casting them in a warm glow. Dabi was never one for daytime, with its people and noise, but it was strangely calming.

"Shigaraki talked to me before the meeting. You wouldn't know, you were gorging on ramen." She sounded mildly amused.

"I was hungry after training. Sue me."

"He didn't say much, but I think he was implying that he was testing me."

"He's never went to school, don't worry, he'd be a shit teacher."

"I meant he was testing my loyalty."

"I mean, if slicing up your own people ain't loyal, I don't know what is," Dabi quipped.

She looked up with widened eyes, like a gambler who just realised they had lost. "You know?"

"Some rumours and suspicions. So it's true."

"I'm not proud of it...now," She spoke, and sounded truthful.

"Keep going." Dabi waved dismissively.

"I was paranoid that the whole assignment was set up by Shigaraki, and that you were here to spy for Shigaraki."

Dabi barked out a laugh. "Not in a million years."

"Well, it sure made me suspicious. I kept thinking you had orders to kill me if I made the wrong move. My loyalty was in question, wasn't it?"

His expression sombered. Well, that explains a lot. "I kept wondering why you were being so stubborn about continuing. If the others or Shigaraki found out you failed the assignment, it wouldn't look good for you either."

She nodded rigidly, like a robot toy with rusty joints. Dabi exhaled. So she was going into Tokugawa with that much baggage...while I was whistling and kicking back against leather chairs.

Yet he wasn't punished, while she took all of Takame's hits and ended up in this state. He clenched his fists, feeling a hydra of emotions emerge – anger, shame, guilt, twisting and churning, all inside him.

"I was in a place like this before, sometime in my past," He said, which drew her eyes to meet his, with evident intrigue towards the spontaneous sharing. "It's why I wanted to come here. To look around, see if I remember anything."

The words burst from his mouth. His brain sent alarm signals, asking what the hell he was doing. Sharing something, he responded. Maybe sharing something about himself would make her hate him less. Because he sure as hell would hate her if he had to take a beating as bad as the one she took, just to buy time to save her.

"You want to reclaim your past? Why?"

He was still staring at her, and it was that question, Why, and her white hair, that clicked in his head.

He remembered someone else he held close with long white hair like hers. His heart clenched. Is that why I'm doing this?

"Probably time I did so." He got to his feet and offered a hand. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Don't you want more time?" She took it, wincing a little.

"Yeah, but you need to rest. I think I'm done here anyway."

The two exited the warehouse towards the bike, and as Dabi surveyed the factory for the last time, something bit at him. He forgot something, but what was it?

––––––

"I'll...make sure you don't get killed. By Shigaraki, or, whoever," Dabi said, hoping he was loud enough to be heard with the wind whooshing past on the motorcycle. Because he did not want to repeat that.

He felt her arms tighten slightly against his torso. "Thanks," She murmured.

Silence folded onto them once again.

––––––

"I'm back." Dabi shut the door behind to see Shigaraki on a chair, with multiple metallic surgical devices operating on his open arm, and that was a light way of describing it.

Such was Shigaraki's desire, anyway, as he had shared a while back with just the League. It was one hell of an ambition, one Dabi could get behind, but definitely not to the extent of sitting in that rusty chair of the Doc.

Picking between looking at his leader in the eye and beholding the grisly tendons and bones that looked more at home at a slaughterhouse, it was a difficult choice indeed, but Dabi had to settle for eye contact.

"That took a while," Shigaraki stated, but didn't say anything further. Was he expecting Dabi to explain himself, or was that his indifference?

"I've got some questions about the mission. But first, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Shigaraki inspected a bit of flesh that landed on his chest, apparently unconcerned with the discontinued surgery from the doctor that had left the room a while ago. "Oh, just learning some biology. Did you know if you tear open someone's left arm like this, it hurts like shit?"

"Could have fooled me." Dabi noted Shigaraki's bored countenance.

"Yeah, well, can we get to your questions about the missions? I'm getting tired entertaining guests."

"Why'd you pick me and Apocrypha?"

"Thought it would be good for both of you. Get some fresh air away from the city, y'know, let you two hook up if you wanted to…"

Dabi's brow twitched. "And your other reason?"

"Seeing if she's good enough to serve as a lieutenant. I never got to hear your take, by the way, seeing as you left the meeting midway to finish your chores."

"She did fine." More than fine. "No reason to demote her or anything."

"Hm." Shigaraki sounded unimpressed. "If you say so. She's your co-leader in the regiment."

And you said you wouldn't give a shit about what went on within the regiment, as long as it worked...There was probably some truth to that, the only exception being Shigaraki's suspicion of Geten's loyalties given her past. If he held true to his word now, Shigaraki would lay off her back for the time being now that that Takame fiasco was over.

"Yeah, she's a bit annoying, but otherwise she's decent."

"Mmhmm…" Shigaraki went back to tracing a finger on his exposed bone. "Well, any more questions?"

"Mesa." Dabi trained his eyes onto him to catch any signs of recognition. Catch them off-guard with information they don't expect you to have, and you'll see if they're hiding something.

"S'cuse me?" Shigaraki looked more confused than annoyed. Nothing. Guess it wasn't him. That leaves a couple more people.

"I sneezed, sorry. I got nothing else," Dabi deadpanned.

"Well, bless you, and GTFO," Shigaraki snarked.

"Thanks. Good luck on your surgery." Dabi turned to leave with a lazy wave.

"Oh yeah, good job on the assignment, by the way," Shigaraki said, as Dabi ambled to the door. "Feel free to resume your own business, with Hawks or whoever. Just keep him in check. If he pries too much, I'll have to pluck him out."

"So you don't trust him either?"

"I'd be disappointed if you ever did."

Dabi gave a short laugh as he held the doorhandle. At least they were on the same page about something. "Don't worry. I'll drag him to this doorstep if need be."

If there was a reply from Shigaraki, it was lost to the echo in the chamber.