You stared up in horrified awe at the burning building. A mixture of orange and azure flames whisked past one another fluidly in a destructive dance as they fluttered out of the shattered windows. Plumes of smoke puffed out of every opening creating an enormous black cloud in the sky. Gradually, Dabi's blue flames dominated the blaze.
'What… the hell… did I do?' The question persisted in your mind. The terrified screams of the people inside were gradually being drowned out by the crescendoing roar of the inferno, but the noise was like nails on a chalkboard in your heart. The words of the boy still inside the factory echoed in your skull.
'You're supposed to be a hero!'
A sinking pit of shameful regret burrowed its way into your stomach. You should fly right back into the blaze and rescue the boys. It was the right thing to do - you knew that, but for some reason, you couldn't move. Your muscles were petrified by the guilt of your criminality. You caused this. Your pupils narrowed fearfully, and Dabi's flames were reflected clearly in the (E/C) of your iris. An overwhelming tightness began to creep from your core and gripped your chest. Though the boys' screams were inaudible now, you were beginning to come to your senses.
'I have to… get them out.' You muttered mentally. The thought came slowly- as if your train of thought were skipping its way along its tracks. You knelt down ever so slightly in preparation to fly into the building, but Touya's arm snaked itself around your waist and tugged you backward gently before you could take off. "Come on, let's go." He coaxed softly.
'No… I can't just…' Again, the thought was lazily strung together. It felt almost incomplete. Ignoring his words, you attempted to bound forward with your quirk, only to be abruptly stopped as Touya tightened both arms around your stomach. The pressure suddenly placed on your intestines evoked a soft gag from you as you released your quirk. The heel of Touya's boots dug into the dirt as his entire body was dragged forward by your momentum.
"No, (Y/n)! Leave it, we have to go!" He shouted as you struggled and squirmed in his grip. Even with all of your thrashing, Touya managed to spin you around to face him. You looked to be in a daze. He held tightly onto your shoulders and gave you a light shake to focus your attention. "(Y/n), listen to me. Listen to me!" He brought his face close to yours as he repeated his command softly.
"We have to go."
A sense of dreadful gloom washed over you as the sound of distantly approaching sirens pierced your eardrums. That horrid lump in your throat was threatening to suffocate you altogether. Touya was right. You couldn't be caught- not like this. This was more than just vouching for a villain. If the incident at the Todoroki house wasn't enough- now, you were a criminal. Arson, assault, murder; whatever thin line you were walking had been crossed. This was far beyond a dishonorable discharge. They give out life sentences for offenses like this, or even worse, capital punishment. If you ran now, though, no one would have to know you were involved. Still, what kind of hero willingly sacrifices others to save themselves? Now wasn't the time to grapple with your waning sense of morality, though. You had to go. Releasing your torso, Touya moved his hand to your wrist and gave it a tug. "Come on."
Your eyes welled with tears as you gazed with horrific longing at the factory. You were stupefied. Your legs began to move on their own as they obeyed Touya's wishes for you to follow. Touya's grip tightened around your wrist as he picked up the pace, and the two of you bounded down a dreary looking alley. The smoke from the fire had begun to spread throughout the surrounding streets. You snuck intermittent glances at the darkened intersections that were visible between the buildings as you zipped past. More sirens could be heard just down the street, and they were growing louder by the second. Through the thin clouds, you made out the lights of an oncoming firetruck. Your jaw clenched so tight you thought your teeth might crack, and you prayed no one inside had spotted you.
"This way!" Touya yanked you along so roughly you nearly tripped with the change in direction. For a moment, you thought about using your quirk to fly Touya and yourself out of the danger zone, but your chances of being spotted in the air were too high. Even if you did stay low, you didn't know the layout of this city. One wrong turn and you could end up slamming the both of you into a wall, or worse, cornering yourself. The pounding of your feet against the pavement was steady as neither of you were very keen on slowing down. The sirens you had heard before were fading. In only a few minutes, they were practically imperceptible. Ahead of you, you could hear Touya struggling for air as he sucked in deep, raspy breaths. You were becoming worried for him. Touya dragged you out of the alley and around the side of a faded-blue building where the two of you scrambled for the only door you could see. He yanked hard on the handle, but the door didn't open.
"Wha- I know I left it unlocked…"
"Move." You instructed, quickly pushing your friend aside with your elbow to get to the door. Aiming your palm at the lock, you used your quirk to snap the knob clean off. With a strong shove, you forced the door open. The two of you rushed inside, and Touya quietly closed the door behind him. For a moment, you were afraid to speak. Although the sirens were long gone now, your paranoia still had you feeling as though the slightest sound could lead the heroes straight to you. Instead, you and Touya stood on opposite sides of the doorframe, staring at one another. Your chest rose and fell dramatically as you breathed heavy breaths. You weren't sure how far you'd actually run, but you estimated you couldn't have been much more than a mile away- still a bit too close for comfort. Your heart rate gradually stabilized, but the whole ordeal had left you trembling. You raised your hands shakily to your head and stared down intensely at the dusty floor.
"Damn…" Touya breathed as he finally caught his breath. "Been a while since I've had to make an escape on foot." You hardly heard him. You were too wrapped up in your own thoughts.
"I… Those kids…" You muttered. Touya stared at you silently. "They're… I… they didn't…" Your words seemed to get caught in your throat as it tightened. It still felt as though there were a roadblock in your mind, preventing you from forming your thoughts into coherent sentences. The crushing realization of the extent to which you had taken your power had set in. "What have I done?" You croaked painfully, burying your face in your palms.
Peeking out of the door for a moment, Touya spoke up. "I think we're good. Pretty sure no one saw us." He said, seemingly brushing off your shaken state. "We'll hide out here for a bi-"
"Why did you do that?" You questioned, your tone a little harsher than you intended.
"Huh?" Touya hummed in confusion.
You picked your head up, away from your hands. "Why did you do that, Touya?" You asked again, voice shaky, but firm. He blinked at you, looking puzzled at first- as if your demanding question were farfetched. Then, straightening his expression, he responded plainly. "The fire? I wouldn't worry about that too much. That factory has been abandoned for a while now. No one is gonna miss it."
You furrowed your brows, unhappy with his laid-back and deflecting reply. "You know damn well that's not what I mean." The venom in your voice sprayed out in tiny particulates of saliva as you snapped back at him. Your bottom lip quivered as you held hostage a lump in your throat which threatened to make you sob. You stared down at the floor once again and at your trembling hands as tears stung the edges of your eyes. "Those boys… they didn't do anything." Guilt saturated your words. You felt bad for snipping at Touya. Was it really his fault? You were the one who was supposed to be doing good. You could have stopped him. You should have stopped him. Your mumbling voice neared a whisper. "They didn't… I shouldn't have…" A gentle hand found its way to your arm, gripping you lightly.
"Hm… (Y/n)?" He husked, finally taking your shaken state into consideration. Your body tensed as a choked sob coursed through you.
"I…I killed them." The weight of the words made your head spin. You'd never killed anyone before - at least not intentionally. Any lives that had been lost on your missions before were never a direct result of your actions, but now you were staring liability in the face. The ill feeling of dizziness swelled in your head as you began to hyperventilate - breathing air out faster than you could suck it in.
"Y/n." You felt calloused hands grip your face, tilting your head up roughly. Though your eyes looked in his direction, your gaze was fixated straight through Touya. "Look at me, Y/n." Touya enunciated each word of his command. Slowly, you focused your vision to look half-heartedly at his face.
"They tried to kill you. You understand? We acted in self defense."
You swallowed the lump in your throat. You were distraught about the situation, but he had a point. That thug did attack you, but the boys… "They were just kids, Touya."
Touya's face took on an angry scowl. "That tubby one was gonna bash your head in." Another fair point. Still, why did it feel so wrong? You thought of the golden-clawed boy clutching his gas canister and quaking with fear.
"His friend… you didn't need to do that, Touya!" You almost shouted at him. The image of the trail of flames hunting down the middle schooler was fresh in your mind. It wasn't something you were likely to forget. Feeling thoroughly frustrated and shaken, you turned your body away from Touya and took a few steps into the dimly lit building. This looked to be a garage, but, unlike the other buildings the two of you had found yourself in, this one didn't look abandoned. There were only a couple of cars parked in the spaces now. Touya took hold of your bicep and tugged you toward him.
"That kid recognized you." He retorted, prompting you to look him in the face. "There's no way he would've kept his mouth shut about it." You wanted to cry. Your lips formed a pout that you couldn't seem to prevent.
"You don't know that!" You argued.
"I wasn't willing to risk it!" Touya's voice cracked as he, for the first time, raised his tone at you. You'd been shouted at plenty of times in the past - the military was full of it. Touya's shout, however, shook you. The emotion it held teetered on the border of anger and sadness. Though your mouth hung loosely open, whatever words you'd had for him were quickly caught in your throat. The shocked look on your face was blatantly apparent to him, and a look of remorse coated his expression. Touya reached his hand out, running it up your arm and shoulder to rest his palm on your cheek. His Adam's apple visibly moved as he swallowed hard. Taking a step toward you, he brought his forehead down to meet yours. Even so, his gaze was trained downward, as if he were avoiding eye contact.
"And I'm willing to bet you weren't either." He muttered softly.
You breathed out a sigh. He wasn't wrong. On the one hand, the kid may have been too scared of getting in trouble for his own misdeeds that he may have kept quiet about the whole thing. The consequence if he didn't though…
"I made a promise, right?" Touya said.
You nodded. The killing, in your eyes, was still not permissible, but the alternative horrified you just as much.
"Besides…" Touya went on, finally meeting your eyes with a cold stare. "You weren't really the one doing the burning."
Before you could muster a response, Touya pulled away from you. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and nodded in the direction of a stairwell. "Come on."
This building, though clearly still inhabited, didn't seem very well-kept. The electricity, at least, seemed to be somewhat functional as the two of you made your way up the stairs. After a couple of flights, Touya pushed open another door. His tone was serious now. "We're gonna have to hurry." He said, briskly stepping out of the stairwell. His eyes scanned the dim hallway before landing on another door at the end of the corridor. The instinct to stick close to him took over, and you followed Touya obediently, trailing only one or two paces behind.
You soon found yourself in what looked to be an apartment. Unlike the other places your villainous companion had carted you to, this place hardly seemed any worse for wear. In fact, most of the damages or untidiness appeared to have all been recently inflicted. Muddy shoe prints on the once emerald green sofa, convenience store snack wrappers and containers here and there, broken glass scattered about the floor in the kitchenette - and yet not a bit of dust or grime on any of the counters. It was obvious that whoever owned this place was not done with their tenancy. If you didn't know any better, you would have ventured a guess that this place had been broken into. You frowned and raised an eyebrow as you side-eyed your partner.
"Touya, where are we?" You asked with the enthusiasm of a fed-up parent. Touya shrugged as he strode into the room. "A place." He replied nonchalantly. Your eyes wandered around the room before returning to the couch. It was the boot prints stained into the couch that had caught your attention: a couple of them looked to be about Touya's size, and the the tread pattern looked about right for his shoe style. Some of the other prints, though, were suspiciously small.
"I'm guessing you've been here before?" You questioned as Touya strode across the room.
Without wasting another moment, Touya positioned himself behind the couch, disappearing as he crouched down, and began running his hands along the faux leather. "It's here somewhere…" He murmured to himself, seemingly ignoring your question. You huffed and copped a squat beside him. You followed his hand as it slid smoothly along the green backing of the sofa. What was he looking for? A moment later, Touya's fingers disappeared through a barely-visible slit in the fabric. He was shoulder-deep in the couch when you spoke up again.
"Dude, what are we doing here?" You pried. Touya continued fishing around the inside of the couch as he responded.
"I wanted to get here earlier, but our unwelcome visitors ate into our time. We're just here to grab something and then we're leaving." Something inside of the sofa rattled a bit as he began to remove his arm. He struggled a bit to fit the duffle bag through the hole, but with some wiggling, it eventually popped out.
"This place had painkillers and extra clothes. There's soap and crap in the bathroom so you could have taken a shower." His tone was exasperated. He was clearly more annoyed by the intruders slowing you down than you were by murdering them. To be fair, you likely stunk to high hell at this point, but it's not like he could talk. Touya stood abruptly and sped to the kitchenette. "Those idiots already ate most of the food…" He grumbled as he rummaged through the mostly empty cabinets.
You stood up slowly, still a bit bewildered. "Woah, woah… dude, slow down. Did you break into this place?" You asked incredulously. Touya scoffed and turned back to you with a raised brow.
"Don't tell me you're seriously surprised." He made a good point. Still, you had questions. As Touya dug around for canned tuna and other non-perishables, you continued your line of questioning. "Okay, so why are you freaking out. Are they coming back soon?"
Touya had stuffed what little he could find into the duffle and turned back to you. He zipped it up and draped the strap over your shoulder.
"Nevermind, you see anything else we need?" He asked, scanning the room erratically. You frowned.
"Are you listening?"
"If there's nothing else, then we're done here."
"Dude, it looks like you've been living here for a while. You're a well known criminal; don't tell me you're scared of getting caught."
Touya groaned his displeasure with your inquisition. Before he could give you the answers you wanted, the rattle of the the door handle made your stomach drop." Touya's face took on it's Dabi-like emotionless expression as his eyes shot toward the door.
"Damn it."
His hands gripped your shoulders firmly and quickly shoved you down to the ground, effectively hiding you behind the sofa. "Stay quiet." He commanded. You looked up at him incredulously. Only a second later, you heard the door swing open.
"See, I told ya it was a pull! No way, kick it in next time!" An unfamiliar masculine voice called.
"I can open doors, Jin." A girl replied.
"Oh, Dabi. We didn't know you'd returned." A third distinct voice called out.
'Oh shit.' You thought.
The League of Villains had just pulled up to your doorstep.
