Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all stuffed yourselves silly like I did. I really wish I had a bigger stomach at times like these so I could just continue eating. My cousins also came to visit, which was nice. We really only ever see each other during the holiday season. I think we'll go visit them during Christmas, but that's a whole mess right now, so who knows exactly what's happening. Anyway, this chapter is a tiny bit short, but that actually surprised me. I thought it was going to be one of the longer ones, but I guess not. Sometimes I worry that I'm too concise, and I get to the point too quickly. Especially on fanfictions, I don't linger on too much detail. But that's a whole other can of worms, so let's just get to the story before this tangent gets too long.

The machine blares all of its lights as the downward spiralling Game Over tune jingles out. With an infuriated scream, I smack the side of it hard enough to make it rock. The kid that had been watching me startles and scuttles away. I seethe at the score glowing on the backboard, which sits only a few thousand under the all time high. Cursing, I stuff in another two quarters and yank back on the launcher. The ball once again begins to clank around as I mash at the buttons on the side. I've just earned a second ball when the kid from earlier wanders back.

I send one of the balls up to bounce around in the top area. "There something you wanna say, kid?"

He's silent for a moment, his eyes following the erratic movements of the balls. Then he ventures, "You're really good, miss."

"Good?" I don't flinch when a familiar voice addresses the child, zeroed in on a ball that's begun to fall back my way. "Did she beat her high score again?"

"What's her high score?"

"Dunno. Haven't played in a while."

The kid's eyes widen. "You mean the high score is hers?"

I hit the left button just a smidge too late and one of the balls slips through the flippers, drawing a growl out of me. "You're being a distraction!"

"I came to hang out, not to stare at you while you vent your frustrations."

I slam both my hands onto the sides of the machine, fuming, my second ball sinking down the drain. I still haven't moved when the ball for the next round loads. "I'm done," I huff, shoving myself away from the machine. "You can have the rest of my play, kid."

The child's eyes brighten and he readily takes my spot. I stand before the looming figure who joined us, glaring up into the hood.

"Took you long enough," I spit.

He shrugs. "I wasn't close."

"Then why'd you come?"

"It's been awhile. You've been too caught up in your hero studies. Speaking of…" He tilts his head sideways imploringly, dark hair falling into eyes the color of his flames. "Weren't you getting your provisional license today?"

I whirl, planting myself at a street fighter machine. "I thought I told you not to ask questions."

"Which is why I waited until I got here," he brushes off, putting his own coins in the machine's second coin slot. We each immediately go for our usual avatars and start the match without delay. "What happened?"

"Nothing." I land a combo. "I just realized this whole farce is stupid."

"You didn't pass?"

I block and launch a counter attack. "I did, the first part. I left before the second part started."

"Why?"

"I told you," I grind a out a particularly difficult set of moves, "I just realized I was wasting my time!"

I'm panting when the screen declares me this round's winner, our health bars displaying just how one sided the entire game was. Irritated by the lack of difficulty, I abandon this game for a shooter, a decision which leaves Dabi quietly studying me as he picks up his own gun.

As we begin picking off hordes of zombies, he says, "I don't care if you don't tell me the specifics, but it's obvious you're lying."

"I'm not!" I insist, teeth gnashing as he swiftly takes out a zombie I missed. "I just met an old classmate and remembered my place."

"So something did happen."

We lower our guns, the words Game Over flashing on my side of the screen. Without his attention, his half of the screen soon reflects mine. Placing the gun back on its mount, he stuffs his hands in his pockets and asks, "So you're done with UA?"

"I have no plans on going back, if that's what you're asking."

"What about Shouto?"

My lip twitches, my fingers clenching around the gun I was putting down. "He's made it clear he thinks of me the same way everyone else does."

"So you're giving him up?"

"Not likely," I scoff. "But there's no point in trying to mold myself into something he doesn't think I can be."

"Then can I take that to mean I can call you an ally?"

"Don't push it." I push past him and exit the arcade. Standing outside the doors, I open a newly bought package of cigarettes and hold one out for him to light. He obliges, and I inhale a sharp puff of smoke. "Thanks."

"UA's made you a stickler for rules," he muses, glancing at the arcade's no smoking sign.

I scowl. "Shut it. When have you ever seen me smoking in there? I don't want to get on the bad side of this place's employees."

He chuckles and I take another hit.

During my time inside, rain clouds have moved in to coat the originally blue sky, causing the neon, flashing lights inside the arcade to project out the windows as if it were night. The bright, temperamental lights dancing across the back of Dabi's dull hoodie manage to sneak a partial smile out of me. Such colors actually suit him surprisingly well.

"Say," I sigh, exhaling a stream of smoke as pedestrians float past us. "Why did you become a villain?"

To my surprise, he actually supplies me with an answer. "It isn't necessarily that I want to be one," he shrugs, glancing down the street. As he talks, I reach over and pull his hood a little lower. He may not be a well known villain, but the heroes have seen him before, and he's rather distinctive. He ignores my gesture. "I just don't really care much for society's labeling. I decided to chase my own values, and I ended up on this side of the fight."

"You're own values, huh? Like Stain?"

"I don't agree with everything that guy did, but his philosophy matches mine pretty accurately. What about you?" He turns to meet my eyes. "What are your values?"

"Loyalty," is the word that reflexively spills from my mouth.

"That's interesting, coming from you."

"Because I don't have people to be loyal to?" I take the cigarette from my mouth, studying it between my fingers. "I do, though. I'm loyal to you, as a friend, so long as you're loyal to me. I was loyal to Shouto all those years we were separated. I still would be, if he hadn't gone and betrayed me. And I'm loyal to myself. Whatever I want to do, whatever I want to get, I get what I deserve, nothing less...and nothing more. Other than loyalty, I appreciate having the power to back up your words. An empty promise is no better than a lie. And one should always have dignity. And while we're at it, it doesn't hurt to be intelligent, either."

"In that case—"

A whoosh knocks the ash off the end of my cigarette, my let-down hair whipping momentarily into my face. Shrinking down the road is a person running on all fours with a bag slung over their back. People shriek as they scramble out of the way, the unlucky ones who are slow to react getting barreled over by the runner. I roll my eyes, lowering them with my hand as I discard my used smoke and go to grab another, when the top of my peripheral vision glows alight with reddish yellow. It's gone in less than a second, but by then I've lifted my head to see a fireball colliding with the behind of the cheetah-esque runner. The person shoots upright with a yelp and collapses to the ground, rolling in desperation to set the fire out. In the meantime, a bulky figure marches past us to grab them. My hand freezes around the end of a cigarette.

A hand on my shoulder reminds me of Dabi's presence, but I can't move my eyes off of the hero.

"Sorry, Kyou, I have to go."

I press my lips shut and swallow hard, my head creaking as I give him a barely existent nod. Then his hand is gone, and I can feel that I'm the only one left lingering in front of the arcade. As the hero throws the singed villain into the hands of newly arrived police, I gulp hard again, and slip the cigarette back into its box. I've only just coaxed my foot to take a step away when the hero turns, and of course, with my wonderful, ever-courteous luck, our eyes meet.

My heart rotting within my ribs, I find myself staring into the yet another pair of vivid blue eyes, these ones surrounded with a constant blazing mask.

He goes rigid, and after barely a second of thought, he storms my way. Likewise, every muscle in my own body tightens with painful tension, yanking taughter with every step he comes closer. My breathing turns shallow, then stops entirely when the air begins to grow warmer with his presence. I force in a shuddering, hot breath when the monstrous man comes to a halt only a car length away from me.

Endeavor.

"I heard you cheated your way into the UA," he booms, his chilling gaze as piercing as the ice his son wields. "So you still haven't given up on my son."

Why is he here? This abomination, this insult, why now?

"Your father was always weak hearted. A man too eager to please. If only he had a little more backbone, I imagine he might have been able to suppress you, but now I see you've got him under your thumb enough to manipulate him and his connections."

Voice hissing out between my teeth, I seethe, "Shut up."

"I don't care what strings you pulled to get them to ignore a complaint from me. I will find a way to pull a worthless villain-in-the-making like you from that school."

The cigarette box crumples in my grasp. "Is that how you should talk to the girl who was previously engaged to your son?"

His eyes narrow. "I thought I made myself clear back then. That was nothing but idiotic talk between those two women. I would never give my son to someone like you."

Before I know what I'm doing, I've taken a step towards him in threat, my body quivering at the implications in his words. "I can't believe," I snarl, "for a second that scum like you is related to Shouto."

"I don't care if you believe it. He is my son, and I will protect him from hazards like you."

Suddenly, a thought hits me. He'll protect him, will he?

I can feel the twisted grin stretching my lips as the idea begins to form. Oh, if he only knew what his words have done!

Stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets, I throw my head to fully display my victorious smirk, which has new waves of aggravated heat rolling off of him in response.

"Alright," I agree, challenging his glare. "We'll see if you can manage."

Ohoho, what is she plotting? Stay tuned to find out! I think she's actually planning on doing things a little differently than I had planned, but it's her life, so I'll let her take the reigns. Thoughts? Predictions? Opinions? Honestly I can't always figure out what she'll do, but what do you think she'll do? Also, there was some other important information sprinkled in there that we'll probably touch on later. Look forward to that! I'll see you guys again next chapter!