"Hey, Apathia!"

Leinei glanced over her shoulder as she was walking down the hallway of Gunga Villa's third floor where her bedroom is. She mostly stuck to herself minus the few conversations she had with Dabi when he decided to grace everyone with his presence, but overall the last two weeks of her undercover work had been uneventful past that first night.

Keigo's presence had been even more scarce than Dabi's, and that unnerved her more than anything. It was for appearances, to show the disapproving yet supportive brother angle, to the heretical sister who had to fake her own death to get away from the clutches and cruelty of the oppressive hero society that was strangling their country. She still was craving one of his signature hugs and assurances that this will be all over soon, that she could go home, that all of this could be in the past just as soon as they got enough information.

"What's up?" she asks, stopping as a few of the other Army's members jog up to her. She crosses her arms over her chest, taking the small group in as they stare at her starry eyed. "Can..I help you with something?"

"Ah..well…"

The three of them shuffle, sharing looks with each other before a male steps forward, maybe two years her senior. He has messy black hair, some of which falls around his yellow eyes while the rest is cut close to his head to accentuate his already angular cheeks. He smiles sheepishly at her, his cheeks a little flushed as he holds out a gloved hand to her. She raises an eyebrow, her eyes flickering between his outstretched hand before up to his face.

"I'm Zori. You..you're Hawks' sister right?"

"Yeah. Also Dabi and Geten's right hand. What do you guys want?"

"Well…ah..is it okay if I call you by your regular name? It's a little unnerving to call you by your villain name when we all know it."

"I guess. We're all friends here anyway," she sighs, shaking her head as he pulls his hand away. "Seriously, you all have a few minutes to explain why you're accosting me in the hallway when I have a book in my room with my name on it."

"Ah well…you see-"

"We wanted you to train us!" the woman behind him says, stepping forward with flushed cheeks and hopeful eyes. "W-we know you trained at UA, and since we hear Dabi talk so highly of you, and you've been on the news and-"

"What Alisa is saying is that you are way too qualified to be teaching a bunch of civilians how to properly hold their own against heroes, but if you don't mind, we'd love to learn," Zori says, hijacking his conversation with Leinei back from Alisa, who steps back sheepishly. "And we'd love to see if you could help us with our own awakenings, so we can hone our meta abilities better to be of even more use to Shigaraki and ReDestro."

Leinei is quiet, glancing between the trio before her. Alisa brushes her white hair behind her ear, gray eyes hopeful as she stares at the younger girl. The third, a taller fellow with a bored resting bitch face and his hands in his pockets, tilts his head with brown hair falling in his face. Zori, the leader she's deduced, is rubbing the hem of his white gloves, an obvious nervous tick. These are just civilians. Civilians are so wrapped up in this mess…why? How is that crusty, desperately in need of some moisturizer incel this charismatic to draw in so many people to follow him?

"Yeah, sure. I don't really have much else going on for now. If you wanna give me a few minutes to grab my stuff, I can meet you three in one of those sparring rooms."

"That would be amazing, thank you," Zori says in a sigh of relief, letting his hands fall from each other. "See you down there, Leinei."

She nods, watching them turn and walk away. Zori and Alisa talk excitedly amongst themselves, the third nodding quietly before they round the corner and start walking down a flight of stairs. Her hands fall to her sides before clenching into fists, her jaw tightening until her teeth ground against each other. How can they be so happy? With all these plans, all this talk of war…and they act like it's another day at the schoolyard?

I want to go home…

Her jaw starts to ache and she sighs, uncurling her hand and rubbing the taut muscles as she turns to walk back to her room. Her eyes are burning, blurring as she walks, and she wipes the tears from them as quickly as they appear. If they sense I'm even the slightest bit regretful, I'm dead. Keigo and I will be dead. I can't show this. I can't show anything.

Wear the mask. Wear the facade that they wanted to impress on you the same way they did to Keigo, to Reina. Act happy to be here. Act like you wanted this. Act like you belong, Leinei. You have to, for your life, for Keigo's, for Reina's memory.

I'm not a child. I'm a hero.

"Hey, we were starting to think you weren't coming," Zori calls as Leinei walks into the room wearing her capture scarf and former hero suit. Blood still stained the soles of her boots, her leggings ripped at the knees from where she had sparred with another member of the Front after being assigned to the Violet Regiment under Dabi and Geten. Her knees still had the scrapes from hitting the floor on them, scabbed with yellowing bruises, but she came out as one of their Advisers.

"I had to make the choice if I was going to clean the blood off my boots before this," she remarks, crossing her arms over her chest as she looks at the three of them. She tilts her head as she thinks of where to start, having to remind herself that her own training was very different. "Alright. Tell me what your meta abilities are, and if you've had your awakening yet."

"I can create small scale illusions, no awakening yet," the quiet one from earlier says. "And since I didn't get to introduce myself earlier, my name is Ikrys."

"Nice to meet you, Ikrys. Alisa?"

"I can shoot small beams of light from my fingers," she tells her sheepishly. "It's nothing really cool, but I can heat up a burrito if you're hungry."

"So no awakening?"

"No ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am. I'm pretty sure I'm younger than you." Leinei looks at Zori expectantly.

"I can control pheromones that a person emits to the point of control."

Okay that one may be a problem.

"It used to be that I could just manipulate them to feel attraction and convince them to give me things, but I had my awakening when I was staring down the barrel of a gun. I managed to manipulate the person to turn it on themself and got away."

Yeah that's definitely a problem.

"Well that gives me a place to start with you three. Ikrys, Alisa, we'll work on getting your meta abilities awakened. Zori, we're going to work on honing that ability and getting you some basic combat under your belt."

"Um…how exactly are we going to awaken-"

"I'm going to stress you to the point it's a reaction of course. My meta ability is handy like that." A small smirk grows on her lips seeing the way the trio stiffens, one that disappears once she realizes it was there. No. No, I can't give into that part again. "It requires some mental preparation on your ends so that you don't end up killing yourselves of course, so for today we'll all just work on getting you each basic combat experience."

"Oh thank Destro," Alisa breathes, placing her hand against her chest as she slumps forward. "I've heard the horror stories of your meta ability."

Of course they have.

"Anyway, each of you are going to come at me with all you got," she tells them, taking a few steps back as they watch her. A movement out of the corner of her eyes catches her attention for a split second, seeing the familiar figure of Dabi standing by the door quietly as she instructs. "I'll of course be going to try and kill you." Alisa gulps. "If one of you can manage to get me on the floor before I drop all three of you, then you win."

"What if we don't?" Ikrys asks.

"Then I guess the Front is going to be down three useless wash outs, now won't they?"

"Ouch."

She takes a breath, closing her eyes for a moment as they shuffle their feet. She can hear Dabi's coat ruffle, the interest and smug pride radiating off him as she stands against three members of-wait which regiment are they from? Maybe Black? No, it could be Brown. I should've asked.

She sidesteps one of the feeble punches from Alisa, letting the girl stumble forward and almost fall as she ducks from one of Ikrys' kicks. Zori comes at her with a tackle, managing to catch her. Smirking, she plants one foot on his hip and kicks off. It sends him over her head and shoulders before she jerks herself up into a crouch as he hits the ground hard. Not giving her a chance to breathe, a beam of white light shoots past her cheek, leaving a stinging cut on her skin that begins to well with blood.

"Shit I missed-"

Leinei's capture scarf shoots out, snagging Alisa by the waist. The girl yelps as she's yanked forward, losing her footing. Ikrys curses and attempts to grab Leinei to make her stop. In a fluid motion, she jumps up and kicks off Ikrys' stomach to launch herself over Alisa. Her scarf unwinds just before the two collide into each other, and she lands with her knees bent. Alisa and Ikrys are on the ground, groaning and obviously hurting. She glances around, not seeing Zori.

Where did he go? He's the biggest threat-

"Give up."

Her teeth grind together as her skin suddenly feels like it's on fire. Her breathing becomes labored as her cheeks flush. Her legs tremble, as if trying to give out from under her as her heart races in her chest. She wants to listen, to obey, to melt against him as he skims his fingers against her open back.

"You're fighting so hard…you must be tired," Zori murmurs in her ear, his voice suddenly alluring to her as her eyes roll upwards. Everything else seems so far away, his right arm wrapping around her waist while his left hand brushes against her neck, tracing the faint outlines of the scars Dabi left all those months ago. "You can relax…all you have to do is give up. You can stop fighting. You can sleep. Just say you give up."

He's right…I'm so tired…

Her body starts to relax, the adrenaline in her muscles bleeding away as she closes her eyes. It feels so good to finally let her guard down, to forget everything for a moment. I'll just give up.

Zori smirks as he feels her slowly go limp in his hands, relieved he was able to incapacitate her before she did actually kill them. Alisa and Ikrys get to their feet, watching the way she falls back against him. Dabi pushes himself off the wall, blue flames starting to lick at his fingers as he steps forward.

There's a purple flash, Zori sent flying towards Alisa and Ikrys with such a force that they bounce once before skidding across the floor and stopping just before the wall. Leinei is slumped forward, one eye closed in pain as blood drips from her palm where her fingernails cut across her skin. She takes a breath, standing up straight before looking at her palm.

"You've got a scary quirk, I'll give you that," she says, an edge to her voice as she sees Dabi let his flames die away. "You need to work on getting it to work on more people from a further distance, or else you're going to get your shit rocked every time you go to use it."

That was too close…

She looks at Dabi as the three others get to their feet. Each are coughing and their legs are shaking, Alisa holding her stomach where Zori had flown headfirst into it. His face is unreadable, despite the obvious anger in his eyes. He turns on his heel and walks out of the room, the door slamming shut. She lets out a breath, shaking her head as Zori walks over to her, a little sheepish as she looks up at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you and Dabi were a thing," he says, a sad note to his voice. "I wouldn't have gone that far if I-"

"Dabi and I aren't anything," she retorts sharply, watching him flinch. "Coworkers. That's all."

He would've fried you. He was going to. Damnit, damnit!

"Forget about it," she grumbles, turning to the door and starting to walk. "You three need to get to wherever the infirmary is while I go play damage control. Dabi is a right ass when he's pissy."

"You got it, Leinei."

I should've reacted faster. I shouldn't have let my guard down so much. It almost cost them their lives. It'll cost so many more theirs if I don't get my crap together.

She shoves loose hair from her face, scraping her forehead with her nail in the process in a way that makes her hiss. Her legs are shaking from a mix of anger and anxiety as she walks, her knees threatening to give out with each step down the hallway. Despite that, she walks with purpose, her head high as she walks past other members of the Army. A few even jump out of her way, shrinking down as she passes them.

Huh. So this must be why the gen studies kids labeled me the Lavender Devil. Heh.

She turns a corner and stops short of bumping into someone in a brown trenchcoat. She looks up, seeing the familiar masked face of Mr. Compress. She takes a step back as he looks down at her, confused by the melancholy guilt radiating off of him. It's mixed with anger, self hatred, a feeling she knew too well. But why?

"Miss Leinei, a pleasure to see you again," he greets, no hint of the guilt or anger in his voice. He tips his hat towards her as he speaks before letting his hand fall away. She notices that one is mechanical, a notable difference from how she saw him back at the Kamino hideout those months ago. "How are you fitting in? I know it must be a drastic change from how your school was."

"I'm fitting in fine. It seems that half the Army is scared of me anyway." Her fingers twitch at her sides as the man tilts his head. She could feel his gaze piercing her even through the mask, but…it didn't feel malicious. Even then, his gaze flickers, looking everywhere but her for seconds at a time. Like he was ashamed to look at her. "You've never bothered to speak to me before. Why now, Compress?"

"I just wanted to check in on one of our newest members who refused to join before," he says simply. "I heard Dabi made you one of Violet Regiment's Advisers. I'm sure your brother must be proud that you're so high up already."

"You could say that."

"..." Compress is quiet for a moment longer before sighing and lifting a hand to his mask. He removes it, showing the black face cover beneath with only his eyes and mouth showing. Pain suddenly pierces her heart, seeing the agony in his. "I…I'm sorry, for what happened to your sister," he tells her gently, pressing his mask over his heart. "It was a tragedy. She was truly a beautiful soul, one taken too soon from our lives."

Leinei studies him, her lips pressed in a thin line. Her stomach is twisting, her brain working to connect the emotions she felt from him, his words, the intonation and the tears welling in his eyes. He replaces his mask just as it clicks in her head, a lightbulb seemingly buzzing as she has to reach out and grab the wall.

"You knew Reina," she whispers, horrified. "You…How did you know her?"

"Well, since we are on the same side now, perhaps I can divulge that with little repercussions." He scratches his neck with his good hand, as if trying to push off the inevitable. Leinei can feel tears in her eyes, burning and screaming as she feels she already knows the answer. "You see, shortly after our original meeting in Kamino, I was told by Shigaraki to get close to your sister. It's how that message from Dabi managed to get into your room, since I stayed over many nights out of the week. As expected of me, I got closer to her. I admit, I got too close."

"You loved her."

"I still do. And I regret how she died, and the hand I played in it." His voice breaks as he talks, inhaling before sniffling. "I'm sorry, Leinei. I know how dear you were to her. She was elated to have you back in her life. I'm sorry I helped Dabi to take that away from you. I..I didn't think he was going to kill her that day. The plan was to capture her but-"

Anger surges through her at his words, at his sincerity. She could see the aura around him highlighted with pinks, blues, reds. She hated how sorry she felt for him, when he's one of the reasons Reina was dead. She wanted to kill him almost as much as she wanted to kill Dabi, and wondered if it would feel as good as her killing Gorlov.

It's not what Reina would've wanted.

"Shit happens," she says, keeping her words even and measured, trying to hide the emotions boiling just underneath the surface. "Reina made her choices. I made mine. All we can do is move past it." She takes a breath and starts walking past him. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find my Lieutenant before he throws a hissy fit. Have a nice afternoon, Compress."

She walks away before he has a chance to answer, lowering her head as her hands shake. She hurries along down the hall, trying hard to get the words he said out of her head. She tried to replace them with her footsteps echoing in the halls, with her heartbeat pounding in her ears, but nothing seemed to work. Nothing seemed to drown out his apology.

She would've been less upset if he wasn't sincere. If he hadn't loved her. If it was just a job, she would be more understanding. It would be easier to take whatever vengeance she deemed acceptable on him, but no. He did love her, she could tell that much. He was guilty, it was eating at him.

How dare he?

How dare he act like he has any right to be sad, to be guilty, to be remorseful for his actions?

She was a means to an end to them. He's the reason she died.

I'll kill him. He's dead. If I kill anyone before I leave, it'll be you. I promise that on Reina's ashes.

You son of a bitch.


So just to clarify, in case it wasn't obvious. Zori is less than two years older than Leinei. I promise it's not creepy. Hope you enjoyed!