First, this fic features largely present tense with past tense as well, so I ask that you not get annoyed by tense shifting. If anyone can tell me which tense they think it will work better in, I would be so grateful. Also, I am starting the anime soon, so I am basing this on a lot of fanon and canon elements. We'll see how four months of consuming nothing but Todoroki family fanfics, amvs, and manga chapters has done. So yah, I am a newbie, my evil friend dragged me here four months ago and my autistic brain hasn't stopped obsessing over Todofam drama since.
Second, this is a story about one of our favorite characters, Dabi, or Touya! It's also an SI as Dabi, but I intend to take this in an innovative direction. You see, in one of my other si fanfics, I decided to have the main character remember nothing of her past life and just...experience stuff as it happens, and the end result was a deeply involving, more interesting take on an oc/si than just them instantly knowing shit. So this is going to be immersive, but for quite a while, this Touya will not be meta, aka know it's a fictional universe. It's a move I haven't seen people do yet, so I decided to start a trend. Also, this is third person, so another new style change! The intro is, well, in the future, so...yes Dabi is still a thing.
Also, the si is not OP and is...hmm, different, you'll all see once you read. Just know, this is NOT your average "SI-Conquers-Everything-and-is-some-super-powerful-being-above-others-just-cuz-they're-meta." This is almost like...a DID fic, sorta? I guess? Anyway, the si here is human and flawed. I'm still highly not confident in this idea and scared because this is a new fandom for me, but uh, read, review, and enjoy!
Anyway, rating for child abuse. Warning, I am unafraid of making characters suffer. Virtually nothing is changed in the universe (at first) by bringing this oc here, but my friends tell me this idea is good, so let's end this long ass A/N and get on to the story. POV shifts happen in this chapter, between Rei and smol Touya. Opening is in the future rest of the story builds up to that point, but is told in present tense for stylistic choices.
Italicized and underline=the si "speaking", can only be heard by Touya/Dabi.
Italicized=Flashback or Dabi's/Touya's thoughts.
Chapter One: Kindling
It's not surprising to him that his life happens to be so weird, it's sort of something he is accustomed to now. You don't live in a world of heroes and villains and mind-bending, earth shattering quirks without growing to almost live for the weirdness. Even if his life has been a rather difficult and painful experience at times, he's still somewhat glad to be alive. Forgive him, most of the "gladness" about being alive has since been crushed by a certain flaming asshole with an ego the size of a blimp, so mostly he's indifferent to being alive.
That being said, there are some things he has not expected to have happen to him that have-such as, his father letting him nearly die when his quirk tries to murder him by unintentional self-immolation, changing his own name, running away from home, and becoming the furthest thing from a hero possible are among the more memorable things. Nonetheless, Dabi, or formerly, Touya Todoroki, (before his dad decided he should look like a piece of charred bacon), has seen many a strange thing in his existence(s)?
Yes, he thinks, he means that in a literal sense...although he's still not one hundred percent sure he hasn't been cursed by someone's mind quirk to think that any of the following is true-or actually happened at all and he's just gone insane. Apparently, according to the very stupid (and very annoying, if you ask him personally) voice in his head, this is his second life. Somehow, he "died" and is now here, living the life he lives now. Some form of reincarnation or something, but he doesn't give a fuck.
As he sits here on the couch, ignoring Toga as she rants about the Midoriya boy again, a certain presence decides to pop up and make itself known. As if the voice is annoyed at Dabi's fairly accurate description of how much it bothers, irritates and infuriates him, it speaks again, known only to him. What does it have to say? Some lovely and helpful words for him to remember for all time and take to heart.
'You...shouldn't be here...'
'Yet, here I am. What can you possibly do about it? It is my body, you know.' He thinks, annoyed that the voice is even talking to him, because it has all the personality of a can of paint and the likability of a shark biting onto your leg as you swim in the ocean.
'This should be my body. You're not real, Todoroki Touya. You shouldn't be here! You're just a DOLL!' Oh my, someone is in a bad mood again. He wonders if he can get repellant against this thing, maybe call pest control?
'Too bad. This is my life, I'm real and you're not, now shut the fuck up.' Can he evict this voice? Can he please be rid of it?
'YOU KNOW I'M ALWAYS WATCHING YOU. GIVE ME THIS BODY NOW! IT SHOULD BE ME IN CONTROL, NOT YOU! I'LL ERASE YOU! YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE A DRAWING! YOU'RE JUST A PUPPET!' It shrieks, infuriated that it isn't being taken seriously.
Oh boy, it appears the voice is having a temper tantrum again because it is not using his body as a meat puppet. Like it does every other day of the week.
'Go away. I don't want to speak to you anymore if you're going to be a childish brat. Get out of my head.' He thinks in irritation.
The great pestilence excuses itself for now and Dabi is left alone to think.
In case anyone is wondering, yes, he has attempted to set the voice on fire, multiple times. The consoling thing is that at least in his dreams, he can burn this thing up.
He idly recalls the story the voice had told him about how it had died. Some sort of thing about a fire?
Then again, it tells him all kinds of things, most of them bullshit, but every now and again, it has its moments of sanity.
Yes, if he thinks back on the annoying as shit dreams he has had haunt him at least since he turned fifteen, he recalls it perfectly. He just had to become haunted by this...thing then, and personally, if he wasn't already a wanted villain, he'd be getting a personal exorcism.
No one asked him before this annoying voice decided to interrupt his life and disturb his very sense of reality. It's a pretty simple, straightforward enough tale, he supposes, though again, he is very wary of anything the voice says, since the voice is usually rude, crude and just not very supportive most of the time. Of course he doesn't tell anyone about this, because he's got more than enough revealing info about himself to keep secret.
Sighing, he decides to sleep for a while, and let the crazy ghost/absolute annoyance have its way with him again.
In another life (temporary tense shift to past then back to present tense)
He was an ordinary guy, until he died, by of all things, a fire. Some kind of electrical fire in his shitty apartment that hadn't been maintained well, seeing as it was a college apartment, this didn't bother him.
It's the smell that alerted him, which roused him from his sleep. Blue eyes shot open as the smell of something burning hit his nostrils, and the whole room was hot to the touch. The young man panicked.
What was he supposed to do? Oh right, he had to try and escape the blazing inferno that his cheap apartment was rapidly becoming.
There were orange flames traveling across the floor in front of him, the fire was slowly making its way to his bed. He gagged, it was getting harder to breathe. Why did this have to happen to him, of all people? He didn't know the first thing about fires.
Why did his freaking roommate have to be away visiting his parents at a time like this? Of course, he had been stupid enough to stay in the room with the bad wiring. He'd complained about the lax security before, but had been told it wasn't an issue.
Cursing, he got up, grabbed his phone from his desk, and stumbled over to the door.
He grabbed at the doorknob, but it was warm to the touch and wouldn't budge.
Fuck.
He went to the window and attempted to open it.
It's locked.
"This is really, really bad!" He cried.
He even pounded on the windows, hoping that someone would hear or see him. No one was around to see.
He grabbed his phone and dialed 911, speaking as rapidly as he can. The flames got higher and higher. He didn't have much time left.
"Hello, my dorm is on fire...my name is...I'm eighteen years old."
He coughed as smoke entered his lungs.
It's getting harder to talk, or even think.
The black-haired boy hung up after they told him that they will be over as soon as possible.
He's trapped in his room.
He watched the orange of the flames, watched as it consumed his sheets.
He realized too late that he was done for.
He's terrified. He's so, so scared.
"I don't wanna die." He whispered, hiding in the corner as the flames closed in on him.
It's the worst pain imaginable, his leg was being burned, his whole body was aflame-he heard the distant sirens but the flames were already on him, consumed him, and then he's gone.
(Present tense again)
Rei Todoroki is nervous, because who wouldn't be in this situation?
She's about to have her first child.
That's both a good and a scary prospect to have to endure at the same time.
She can only hope Enji will be kind to her child, and will stop being obsessed with surpassing All Might.
Later on, she will look back and curse her foolish self.
She discovers that the child is a boy, and is curious as to what he will look like.
Will he look like her, have white hair like her?
Will he look like his father instead?
Will he instead resemble both of them?
Enji seems determined to remind her that her child had "better not be weak" and "should be a strong child." What nonsense, the child doesn't need to be weak, all he needs to be is himself, and Rei will love him regardless.
He is, after all, her child.
How could she not love him?
It feels like the months fly by, because before she knows it, she is going to the hospital to give birth.
Labor pains are painful, unlike anything she's experienced before, but she endures it, for the sake of her newborn.
Then he's there, letting out a loud wail.
He's wrapped up and given to her, so she can finally meet her firstborn...her son. She feels proud of herself for this life she has created.
Well, he doesn't have her hair...but that's all right. The small tuft of hair that is on his head is red, a shade of vermillion.
He inherited her soft facial features, though-the shape of his eyes is the same as hers.
It's his eyes that intrigue her the most-they're blue like Enji's, but they're lighter, a shade of turquoise blue.
There's such innocence in those eyes that she can't help but stare as the child stares up at her, and smiles, having stopped crying.
She gets the feeling this boy will be a mama's boy, for some reason.
"Welcome to the world, Todoroki...Touya." She says.
The infant smiles at her, looking so innocent and falling asleep in his mother's arms.
She wonders what quirk Touya will have; fire, probably, judging from his hair color.
That seems to please Enji.
However, the baby doesn't seem to like his father.
When he is placed in his father's arms, he cries and cries, until he is placed back into her arms, then he stops crying and smiles.
"He likes you over me." Enji grumbles.
Touya seems to be a bit of a sickly child, he seems to catch colds a lot.
Enji calls him weak often, which makes her scoff.
"He's still your son," She reminds him.
"I just don't want a failure of a child." He says, sneering at a sick Touya.
She wonders if his quirk will fit his frail constitution, or not.
Regardless, she still loves him nonetheless.
Sometimes he cries, other times he doesn't, but mostly Touya is a very quiet young child.
He can be a...strange child sometimes.
She remembers when she introduced him to quirks when he was a year old.
Rei entertains her son by building a giant ice castle for him out of her quirk, and he coos in fascination and watches as his daddy melts it in fascination.
"These are called quirks. You'll know by the time you're four years old if you'll have mommy's ice or daddy's fire."
Truthfully, she thinks he'll probably have Enji's fire, judging by his hair color, but she's not certain.
One time, when he is around three years old, he awakens her from sleep screaming.
It's not just any kind of screaming, it's the kind that makes her think someone is actively trying to kill her child.
She rushes to his bedroom, to find the toddler shaking on his bed, his blue eyes wide in terror.
"What's wrong, Touya?" She asks the red-haired child, who looks up at her, finally, and speaks.
"I saw a big, scary fire, and it hurt me a lot!" He wails, clearly terrified.
She wonders if he was dreaming of his future quirk and thinks of what to say in such a situation. "It was just a dream, honey."
"But it felt real, Mommy!" He cries, clinging to her.
She doesn't know what to say, so she opts for a hug to the young boy.
"Do not coddle him, Rei. He is not to be afraid of fire. He is a Todoroki, and my son." Enji says, staring at her harshly, as if hugging her child after he has had a nightmare is a terrible offense.
Touya thinks he's ordinary, because he has a nice mommy and a daddy who is a hero!
He's going to turn four and he's excited to have his quirk come soon, but something even better happens!
He gets a baby sister!
Now he's a big brother, he thinks, cradling his newborn sister in his arms, smiling at her.
Her little hands meet his.
"You have to protect your younger sibling, Touya. You understand?" Mommy tells him seriously.
He understands very little of what she means, he understands his Daddy is mad that Mommy didn't make another boy and is ranting about how she's probably going to be weak. He doesn't understand why his daddy thinks that way, because Fuyumi is his little sister and she will probably be strong, too. Girls can be just as strong as boys, after all!
Fuyumi loves and adores her big brother and he loves and adores her.
However, lately, Touya keeps on hearing a strange voice in his head.
At first, he assumes someone is playing a trick on him, but after he questions Mommy, she denies having done anything.
He must be imagining this voice, because he's not allowed to make friends and he is lonely.
Daddy arranges for private teachers to come over and educate him once he turns four years old, saying it is time he receive a proper education.
He wishes he could be in school like normal children his age.
Then he gets his quirk.
He wakes up, only to see that his bed is alight with blue fire...coming from him. It's so pretty, but then he hurts.
"Touya!" His mommy shouts, as she helps extinguish the flames.
"I got my quirk, mommy! Look!" He shows her how his hands burn and the pretty blue flames return.
For some reason, his mommy starts to cry and she embraces him.
"Honey, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, my little Touya."
He's confused, why is she upset? He has his quirk now!
'Soon, your father will be able to abuse you because of your quirk, Touya.'
The voice speaks up while he is alone in his room, waiting for word from his father on his quirk.
'Who are you and why are you in my head?' He thinks.
The voice does not answer because then, his daddy arrives.
"Show me your quirk, Touya."
The blue flames return, but this time they hurt his arms and he can't control it.
"You truly are my son, but I hope you stop being weak. I will train you in following in my footsteps."
"I get to be a hero, too?"
His father nods, "As long as you are not weak, you will be."
He can't wait to begin the training.
He doesn't understand what true terrors await him at the hands of his father, nor how this will shape his destiny to become a villain.
He hears the voice one last time as he falls asleep that night.
'You will come to regret this day, Touya Todoroki.'
Touya ignores the voice, figuring he's just imagining it.
Little does he realize how his life will change forever after this day, nor how he is already following a script set in motion.