Previously...

"Whatever, Miss Curious. Shigaraki's just through those doors, how about you go talk to him and then get back to me about madness."

Nodding, Nejire stepped forward to push open the doors, but paused for a moment to glance back to him with a grin. "Hey hey, if I'm naive, then you are, too! After all, you're the villain who kept the hero safe after she was knocked unconscious~"

"Yeah yeah," he waved his hand dismissively at her as she entered the other room, closing the doors behind her, "maybe we're both a little mad."


TWISTED EMBERS
Chapter 3: Black & White


Nejire couldn't help but feel like a lamb to the slaughter as she opened the doors to the warehouse receiving area, a large open space with dim lighting. Standing with his back to her was the tall, slender form of Tomura Shigaraki, and the mere sight of the psychotic villain in person was enough to cause the female's eyes to widen with a combination of awe and fear. At the sound of her quiet entrance, he turned his head to glance over his shoulder. A blood-red eye staring her down between the cold, pale fingers of a disembodied hand that covered his face.

"Ahh," he seemed to hiss, "the damsel awakens."

She blinked for a moment, a drop of sweat forming at her temple as her gaze locked onto the hand at his face, a shiver running down her spine. So weird! All she wanted to do was ask about it, but even she could see that might be a bad idea for an opening act. Realizing she had just been staring silently, she blinked again as she did her best to focus. "Hey hey! You... must be Shigaraki, yeah?"

He scoffed, turning to face her as he threw up his hands in a teasing gesture. "What gave it away? My face, or all the villains around here?"

"Your face? IT'S ALWAYS COVERED BY THAT CREEPY H—!" With squeak, she clasped her hands over her mouth to stop herself, but feared it was too late, and that he would be offended and attack. But he didn't, and instead only narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well well, here I have the most esteemed #2 student from U.A in my company, and she's managed to deduce that I wear a hand on my face. Tch, I was hoping you'd be of some use to me."

Slowly, she lowered her hands. "Oh... you know... who I am?"

"I didn't understand why Dabi would bring some girl back with him, but when he told me you were one of U.A's Big 3, I thought this would be interesting."

"Wh-Whaddaya mean? What are ya gonna do with me? Huh?" She tilted her head, poking at her cheeks. "Am I... a hostage? Are you gonna do experiments?! OH OH, I KNOW!" She slammed a fist down against the open palm of her other hand. "ARE YOU GONNA TORTURE ME?"

"What the. . . What? No? Wait, why do you seem happy about tha—"

"I'VE READ LOTS OF BOOKS ABOUT TORTURE! Didja know, this one king loved torture SOOOO much that he ordered—"

"—STOP. PLEASE."

Nejire flinched slightly, immediately falling silent, eyes widened again as Shigaraki reached out towards her.

"No. No torture. So please, shut the hell up."

She bit her lip, resisting the urge to speak, and it took every ounce of effort she could afford to spend. However, before she had the chance to burst into words, another voice spoke up from the darkness, and she realized there was another being in the room with them.

"Nejire Hadou, is it?" The male's voice was matured and smooth, and as she looked over to him, she realized he was another villain described by U.A — his body seemed to be made of some kind of black mist, though the bulk of his form was encased within an expensive looking suit and tie, with black slacks and dress shoes. "Let's not get too off-track, and get to the heart of the matter, shall we?"

Shigaraki groaned under his breath as Nejire clamped her lips shut and nodded.

"Excellent. Now Miss Hadou, we weren't expecting to entertain neither guests nor hostages, so I suppose your actions and words here will determine which one you'll become."

"Oh! Definitely a guest! I pick guest!"

"That's a pleasure to hear," he spoke politely, drawing closer to her, "so then, if you wish to be considered a guest with us, we would have no reason to act with violence or hostility toward you. Isn't that right, Tomura?"

He let out another groan, reaching up to scratch at his neck. "Yeah yeah. As long as she doesn't do anything stupid. Well... other than talking."

With slow, timid steps, Nejire closed the distance between her and Shigaraki, her curiosity overcoming her fear. He eyed her suspiciously, his body language becoming defensive as she stopped just in front of him. He wasn't sure whether to anticipate an attack, and grew more annoyed as she invaded his personal bubble with those big bright naive eyes. Her index finger pressed against her soft lower lip as she leaned forward, then to the side, as if trying to catch a glimpse of his face beneath the hand.

"Wh-What are you looking at?!"

"Is it attached?" She asked, humming as she examined him. "Or can you take it off? What's it for? Is it a real hand?" Her hand stretched out to touch it, but was immediately smacked away, causing her to lean back and withdraw her hand.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM."

His visible eye seared with an intense and sudden rage, and another shiver of fear shot across her skin like lightning. "I... I'm sorry." Her eyes softened, her hands folding together as her gaze dropped towards the ground. "I get carried away sometimes. You... called it 'him' so it must be something very sentimental and personal to you... so, I'm sorry."

Her genuine apology caught him off guard, and his rage seemed to die down. With a scoff, he scratched again at his neck. "Tch, whatever. You can't just go around touching people."

As her eyes traveled back up, they landed on something sticking out of the pocket of his long black jacket. "H-Hey hey! Is that a GameBoy? You like to play games?" Instinctively she reached to grab at it, and her hand was swatted away again, this time with less force.

"WHAT did I JUST say about touching people?!" He growled, his dried and cracked lips curving into a frown, but after a moment he pulled the GameBoy out of his pocket, glancing to Kurogiri for a moment before looking back to her. "But, yeah."

Her eyes brightened as he answered. "That's pretty cool! I love games, too! Whatcha playin'?"

"...the latest Fire Emblem," he reluctantly answered, "though I've already beaten it twice."

"No way! I have that! But I couldn't get past the second battle, it's way harder than the older ones!"

"Of course it is," he scoffed, "they finally stopped making it for babies and amp'd up the difficulty. It's all about strategy, and who's in your party."

"Yeah, it's super hard now! So you must be really good to beat it twice!"

"Eh, I guess."

"Hey hey! I know! What if I bring my game over sometime? Maybe you can help me get past that battle!"

"Tch, fight your own damn battles!"

"But..." her lips stretched into a warm smile, parting as a soft giggle bubbled out, "you said it's important to keep a good party. That goes for real life, too! If you could help me and show me where I'm going wrong, I'd love to do it together! If I'm the brawler, I need a good strategist~"

"~so you're wanting to party up?" His frown slowly furled into a smirk. "And why would a top hero want to party with a villain?"

Her grin faded, her voice becoming soft and quiet. "People use those terms like we're intrinsically different. I'm training to become a hero, because I want to protect people. And apparently to do that, I have to fight villains... which is what you guys call yourselves. But no one's attacked or tried to hurt me here, and fighting you right now... who would I be protecting?"

Shigaraki was quiet, watching her closely, his hand slowly sliding the game back into his pocket. "So, you don't agree with the hero society?"

"No, I... I don't! I don't like how they tell us the world is black and white. I don't like the fact that... I might not be able to be friends with any of you, because I'm in one category and you're in another. We might be very different, but you, Shigaraki-kun... you like video games! And so do I! So we should be able to play them together, and talk about them!"

"Well well, Miss Hadou," Kurogiri chuckled quietly as he saw Shigaraki's smirk beginning to widen into a grin, "what an interesting perspective. In fact, I believe we're on the same page... for the most part, anyways. Our goal is to ultimately dismantle this great lie."

"Society and its rules," Shigaraki hissed with growing excitement, "they must be changed. Destroyed. And we do need help with that. So, perhaps you could be of use to us after all... What do you say, Hadou? Are you really ready to party up?"

Nejire's sapphire hues lit up, her grin spreading from ear to ear as she nodded with great enthusiasm. "Yeah yeah! But! Does this mean you'll stop hurting people?! Because I can't just let ya go around hurting people! I'd still have to whack you in the noggin!"

"Of course, of course," he purred. "With your help, we might be able to change things with much less violence."

"Really? Yeah! Let's do it, then!" She struck a pose, valiantly punching the air. "It's like we'll fight bad guys together! Only the bad guys are the PEOPLE WHO TELL US—"

"—YES, yes, god we get it."

"Okay!"

"Now, how about we go back and let the others know we're teaming up, hmm?"

"Oh, alright!"

"Good." Walking past her, he opened the doors and gestured for her to follow. Dabi had been waiting patiently on the other side, glancing over as the two came out. "Hadou, keep walking down this hallway, then take a right. The others are probably there now, you should get acquainted with them. Dabi will follow after you in just a moment."

She nodded to the both of them before walking off, leaving the both of them behind. Dabi's eyes closed, his crossed arms falling to his sides. "What's the verdict?"

"She wants a world where everyone gets along. How the fuck is she the #2 student?" Scratching the side of his neck with a finger, he huffed. "At any rate, she's no threat. Keep her happy, but don't let her leave. I'll send word to U.A that one of their precious top students has turned on them and joined us. I wonder what they'll do then?"

"So we're what... babysitting her?"

"If you play nice, she'll think she's staying on her own accord. And so will the school."

"Whatever." Shoving his hands into his pockets, Dabi turned and began walking after Nejire. "You're the boss."

Shigaraki grinned, chuckling to himself as he turned and went back through the doors to conspire with Kurogiri. Who knew such an airheaded little hero could become such a perfect pawn?


author's note; Ahh, my apologies for taking so long to update this! x_x
But thank you again for all the positive reviews and interest! :3
I like writing for myself but it always helps the muse stick around
when you know other people are enjoying it, too!

Also, for point of reference, I guess the timeline here is post-Overhaul arc
but before High End is introduced. That's why the League of Villains is in
a warehouse, and not the bar they used to hang out in, before the raid.

The League kind of disappears from the manga after Overhaul! So I
figured this story could fit right into that gap, to sort of fill out the
behind-the-scenes stuff our fave villains have been up to! ;-;