Guest: Thank you! This story is 27 chapters long, all of them completed and edited to be updated once a week. I hope you stick around!

-x- Keigo -x-

The next morning, the news hit the country like a train crash. Other news stations shared the disgusting footage and the in depth, heartfelt interview Keigo had given. Baring everything out for anyone to judge. He was holded up in a hotel with guards in case he was attempted to be assassinated.

The country believed him, and believed the proof he'd brought. #JusticeForKeigo was trending on Twitter as the country was outraged by his treatment, and what he was forced to do. He was shocked by the support he was given from strangers. They pointed out that he was groomed from a young age, and only just a teenager, still.

And he was groomed. He hadn't known it until now, until after it was pointed out. There was a raid on the HPSC from the higher government and heroes, where all the children were removed and the place was combed for evidence. Keigo sat in front of the TV the whole day, watching it all blow up. As if the house of cards that was the HPSC was knocked down.

The top heroes were interviewed (harassed more like it), asking if they knew of what was happening, and none of them knew. All Might, for once, was caught on camera not smiling. He was in outrage of what the Commission had done, and said, "I did always know something was off, which was why I was an independent hero from them. I wish I had paid more attention so I could have helped get those kids out of there, and Takami could have been spared from such a traumatizing life."

Keigo flushed at all the pity. It was after lunch that he got a call on his phone from his handler. He blocked the number and then checked his hero reddit page, and his eyes widened when the top comment had 100,000 upvotes. He clicked on it, and his eyes widened.

The username was "TheKidThatWasTortured_DontPityMe22"

You haunt my nightmares. I think of you all the time, stabbing my eye and yelling at me. I hate what you did, but I understand what it's like to be groomed into something someone else wants. I don't know if I can ever forgive you - you went too far - but I wish you luck in whatever else you do. As long as it's not torturing innocent people again.

He didn't reply, just pressed his palms to his eyes and cried. He looked up and wiped his face when there was knock on the door. This wasn't a cheap motel, there should be people outside guarding him. So why was someone there? Was it a hotel service, maybe bringing him food since he hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. He was hungry, he just realized.

The former hero stood up and looked through the peephole. It was Best Jeanist. He wondered if he was getting arrested. He had imagined it was Endeavor that would have come for him, going full circle. That he was just like his father in every way. He was a killer. He didn't enjoy it, he didn't do it for money, he did it because he was told to.

When he opened the door, the much taller man came in, walking past him wordlessly. "Hello, Takami-kun. You know of me and I know of you. It's good to meet you after the bravery you acted on this morning. Do you have nowhere to go?"

"I don't," Kego said, shaking his head. "It's nice to meet you, too. I've not met any of the top ten before."

"You will probably end up meeting them all eventually. They will thank you for your honesty. If you have nowhere to go, I want to offer you to come to my agency. I would ask you to take a long break from being a hero to better yourself, and then to come back because even though you've been forced to do terrible things, you are a victim as well, and finally spoke out. I think, even without the Commission's unfair backing, that you can rise again. You can stay in the agency dorms, and get a normal job or work as staff for my agency. I will support you financially, and pay for therapy."

Keigo was shocked and speechless. He didn't cry, thankfully. It was an awful and unknown feeling. "I… why?"

"I feel you are true hero material. And I often take in strays." Keigo couldn't tell if he was smiling from behind the very high neckline of his hero costume.

"I would… I would very much appreciate that, thank you so much." A wave of relief slammed through him, warm and welcome. He'd thought he would be homeless and hated by everyone on the street. Even if he dyed his hair, his wings were too obvious to hide. Unless he ditched his wings, he would never go out discreetly.

Best Jeanist went into the hall and got something. It was a very fat backpack. "You'll make it easier back to the car if your wings are hidden," he said bluntly. "I can protect you if need be." Keigo nodded, and released his feathers, carefully organizing them in the backpack to not have any be bent wrong or broken. It was painful when any of his feathers were plucked, broken or burnt. It feels like a sharp pinch on the skin. They walked out to the parking lot, and by gods Keigo was tiny without his wings. He was short anyways, but now was even more prominent. Damn his body needing to be small and light for flying.

Keigo got into the passenger's seat, giving the men that had guarded him a smile and friendly wave in thanks. Jeanist drove them to his agency, Keigo with not a single belonging but the backpack holding his quirk. .

The car drove to the carpark beneath the agency, and Keigo followed him like a duckling up the elevator to the first floor. "This is the lobby floor, but you won't need to be here unless you choose to act as staff."

"Will you want me to pay rent?" Keigo asked. "You know, pay for your kindness?" He had trouble believing anyone would want Keigo when he was useless. Even before he confessed and slandered himself in some ways, he was always told nobody would ever care about him, only his handler. He clenched his gloves in his hands.

"No, there's no need to pay me for this. Many proper heroes do acts of kindness for no desire to be repaid. I want you to rise again and it will take work. I will not hand you heroism on a silver platter."

"I would prefer gold," Keigo said. Jeanist rose his brows but said nothing. "Sorry, I'm trying to joke."

"That needs some work. You must smile to give a hint." Keigo nodded. When they walked down the hall to the elevator up to the other floors, Keigo saw the way his sidekicks were dressed, how their hair were styled. He awkwardly said his hair could never be contained that way. "You will be a pro, you have the education for it, I won't force you to be in my agency's image."

Keigo gave a soft smile and nodded, looking at his feet. They made it to the fifth floor, which were the dorms for the students he kept over the weeks. His had its own bathroom and a nice window wall. It was huge improvement from his cell at the HPSC main building he lived in for the last nine or so years, and better than the dumps he lived in as a child pre-Commission. He walked to the bed and sat on it before putting his backpack down. "This is really nice," he said sincerely, smiling. "Thanks, man. It means a lot."

"I suppose any place would be better than that prison, would it not?"

"I can agree with that. Uh, so, do I have a schedule?"

"You already have a hero license. You are not part of my agency, I just want to help you get on your feet. Though I suggest a leave of absence for things to blow over, and for you to fix things up a bit."

"Right, counseling," Keigo said with a firm nod. He'd never been to a counselor. It would be hard to really open up. He kept seeing all that blood on his hands. He couldn't get it out of his head, and discretely put his gloves back on, clasping them in his lap. Looking down at them, he really wondered where Nagant took the kid, and if he was safe and getting help. He unzipped his backpack and recalled the feathers, feeling relief when the familiar weight settled back into place.

"While you're here, you need to learn to grow up." Keigo cocked his head before righting it, pursing his lips. "You need to learn to live on your own. The Commission will no longer have any custody or connections to you. You must learn to cook, laundry, normal things adults do. Also, it would make you far more relatable and perhaps beloved if you were honest with yourself. "Your face is human enough, but you would inspire other heteromorphs. The broadcast must have hurt a lot of people. Hearing that you're minor differences were seen as wrong and forcibly removed."

Keigo's face fell, not realizing that his words could come across that way. "I can't take my gloves off."

"Because you see his blood on your hands?" Keigo looked up with his brows raised before nodding. "With time, you will no longer see the blood on your hands. He is someplace with at least internet connection if he was able to make contact in some way." So he knew about the reddit. Keigo didn't plan on checking it again, probably ever.

He'd never used to check it, even before the huge drama. It had a bunch of girls fawning over him and guys shit talking him. Now that everyone knew his childhood, before and after the Commision - at least a summary - anyone and everyone knew just where to hit him that would hurt the most. He'd rather avoid witnessing that.

He had zero money but Jeanist gave him some to buy clothes. Keigo went with his wings in his backpack, and realized he'd never been shopping before. Ever. There were so many things, so many colors! He was in awe, feeling all the different fabric shirts. He had a hat on, and was harder to recognize without his wings, so nobody seemed to notice him.

He had fun trying on an exorbitant amount of clothes, stacking them outside the changing room like a menace. People waited for him to come out, and when he did, he was beaming with a pile of shirts, pants and shorts. He stuffed them in the basket, and looked at how much money he had. He'd rather not spend it all.

When he went to the cashier, he was asked, "Do you have a membership with us?"

"What's that?" Keigo asked, sounding too interested. But he didn't make a membership.

"Cash, check or card?"

"Uh, cash," he said, and dumped the crumpled bit of money down. She counted it, looking quite annoyed by now.

"This isn't enough. You need to put something back."

"Oh. What should I put back? Do I put it back on the rack?" Keigo asked cluelessly. The people behind him were either annoyed or amused.

"Haven't you ever been shopping before?" the worker asked in growing irritation and impatience.

"No, this is my first time." She softened a bit, and told him to take back one shirt, so he had an equal amount of tops and bottoms. He beamed and thanked her. She blushed a bit, and he returned one of the shirts before going back, being able to have a few yen left, and bought a candy bar. He went outside, smiling. Was this what being a free person felt like? He could buy things? Do what he wanted? Go out to eat where and when he desired?

Was this freedom?

-x- Dabi -x-

Dabi watched the news, and was glad they blurred his face and altered his voice, but seeing himself as a bloody lump was just awful. Hawks explained everything in detail, and he looked like shit. He had bags under his eyes and everything. Dabi probably would have been able to pick out more flaws with how he acted but he was too scared to look at him, even on the fucking TV.

The only single good thing that came from his situation was Hawks pulling his head out of his ass and reporting the HPSC. Freeing kids from being tools, mindless soldiers, just like Hawks was. Dabi hated him. Hated what he'd done, but he could also understand why he did it. He was an idiot, a sadistic asshole. He was trained to be that way, wasn't he?

How on earth could you just follow orders to torture anyone? Even if he had been aged up to be more beatable, he had still been barely an adult. He'd said he didn't do it, but was never believed. At least not by Hawks. The Commission knew he was innocent. He hoped they crashed and burned and someone better could come to power.

Maybe with them gone, if Shoto ever reported his abuse, the law would do something against Endeavor. They didn't have heroes on a pedestal. Hawks was a monster, what he did was evil, but he didn't seem to have done it of his own free will. In that sense, Endeavor was much worse than Hawks in Dabi's eyes.

When he came down the stairs from his room, the foster family he was dumped on looked shocked by his chosen appearance. He'd always wanted to have piercings, and didn't realize it was possible by shape shifting. He was still fifteen, but looked much more disarming and frightening. If he scared people, nobody would hurt him again.

He mimicked severe burn scars on his face, neck and arms, and put countless staples on the parts of his skin that were normal and the purposely damaged skin. He had ear piercings and a few nose ones.

"Wow!" Hikari said behind her mask. "You look so cool." Dabi's brows furrowed and his mouth pressed together. "Kind of scary, but also cool."

"Are you sure that's what you want to look like now?"

"Nobody can sure as hell recognize me. Dying my hair… it's not enough. I'm sorry if it's ugly, I - I can only do it when I go out-"

"Is this uncomfortable for you?" Mei asked, gesturing to Dabi. He shook his head. "Then look how you desire. You're not the only one who now has face scars." Dabi glanced to the other three, the two he could see, and nodded. Fuyumi and Natsuo had never understood how Dabi felt, but these kids had all been through some real shit. They might be able to understand him, even if Dabi refused to speak of what happened.

At least Enji would never, ever recognize him now. To him, Dabi's quirk was only fire, and he sucked at it. But the teen was abandoning his guise of having a fire quirk and was going to exclusively (in public) use just his shape shifting quirk. He just had to make sure not to get hurt around others.

Dabi was eating lunch when he saw a bird perched at the window. His vision tunneled to only stare at the feathered wings. He didn't notice Mei's hand on his shoulder, slowing saying his name, but he didn't know the name Dabi, so he didn't respond. He started to rock back and forth of his own volition.

"Touya, Touya, can you hear me?" Dabi knew his own name and looked up at her. Sheri, the girl missing an eye, shut the curtains in his view. Tears came from his eyes in humiliation.

"It was just a - a bird," he said in shame. "It was just a bird!" He shouted and grabbed at his hair, putting roughly, painfully. Mei clasped his hands in hers.

"A bird that has feathers. Feathers were the weapons used to hurt you, Dabi," she said in soothing voice. "Nobody has expectations that you will be fine anytime soon." Dabi slowly calmed down, but wasn't hungry anymore and pushed the half eaten plate away. He pushed away from the table and went to his room.

He violently shut the curtains so he didn't see another stupid bird to trigger him. He was weak. What would his father think of him now? He'd be even more disappointed and disgusted by Dabi's weakness. It would be nice if he could show the man what he lost by abusing him, but he had run away with the explicit intent of never seeing him again.

Dabi went on the phone, and opened up messenger. There were a ton of messages from his family. All wanting to know where he was, if he was okay. He made sure it didn't show he'd seen them. Enji didn't leave a message. They had stopped coming a few hours ago.

He couldn't delete the Facebook account because it would prove he was alive. And he couldn't go on the account on any device without risking IP address discovery. He scrolled down the messages, taking screen shots of some of them to remember them by and then blocked everyone and deleted the app from his new phone.

Instead of Facebook he just scrolled down the Google news page. Most of it had to do with Hawks' confession. How the people in the HPSC were up for trial. Dabi smiled, thinking of the stress Endeavor must be feeling, on top of his son going missing. Not that he cared. He was probably swamped with work.

Dabi really didn't know what would happen to the hero world, and unless it affected him directly, he didn't really give a shit. He had his own (major) problems to deal with. Like needing to get used to fucking birds. He hated it, but he needed counseling. He needed extensive therapy after what happened.

Hell, he would do well with therapy just from the way his father treated him all his life. He'd keep the fact that he had an overpowered quirk to himself. Mei and Asahi both knew he had more than one quirk, but not even the Commission had known the extent of his power. He'd hidden it at first, until the torture started, and then he'd short circuited and couldn't explain it even if he wanted to. He didn't know why his quirk worked still regardless of the cuff, and why only one happened. Maybe it was a survival instinct to only use that one.

He didn't plan on telling anyone the extent of it, because he didn't want to be used, or ostracized. Or kidnapped by villains. It was bad enough getting kidnapped by "heroes", villains would be even worse. Or maybe they'd offer for him to join them. If the Commission wasn't paying for what they did to him, he may have considered it.

He decided he wanted to go on a walk. He jumped out the window, landing neatly, and left out the gateway in the backyard. He had his phone, so if the foster family freaked they could reach him. Should he be going out on his own when he had a panic attack just by seeing a bird? No, probably not. But he wouldn't stay trapped in a house again.

A big reason he left "home" was because he wanted to be free. He was never allowed to leave the estate because Endeavor didn't think he was worthy of going out besides school. He was driven to school and then picked up by his pathetic excuse of a mother. Allowing her children to be physically and emotionally abused… why on earth would she ever agree to have children if she was so fucking bad at it.

All Rei could do was pump out babies and not take care of them but for Shoto, the perfect one. If only they knew what Dabi could do, Endeavor might grovel in front of him, apologizing for him missing his great potential. Dabi would have been able to defeat All Might since he pretty much had his powers if he only wanted them.

He could be obsolete to any hero he wanted. Hell, he could probably fly with Hawks' wings. Maybe he should start that. No, he could shapeshift, he didn't need to use Hawks' ugly fucking quirk, he could just sprout wings on his back and fly away. Dabi looked at the sky and smiled. So many opportunities to use that quirk.

Honestly, he forgot his face was a mangled mess when he went out, but only noticed it when he was getting a lot of stares in alarm. He scowled before giving them creepy grins, the staples pulling on his face painlessly. They looked away and Dabi smirked. He had no desire for friends who could hurt him. Not like he'd ever really had friends before, but he didn't care if people thought his new get up was gross or ugly or wrong. Because he could get rid of it anytime he wanted. It was a choice, and having it a choice gave him power that real burn victims did not have.

His hands were shoved in his pocket as he walked around the block, looking at the houses. The streets were narrow and one way. There were a lot of lawns, no walls. No gates stopping the world from coming in but also the residents from going out. How he wished he could witness what was happening with his parents and how panicked they might be. Maybe. There was no guarantee they even gave a fucking shit.

There was no panicked message, and so he didn't think they noticed, so he was fine to get back to the new house. He put his hands over his eyes, cupping them so he could only see in front of him when he heard birds in the trees. He shut his eyes and hurried inside before hitting into the glass door like a damn moron. Thankfully, nobody was inside to see it.

Dabi headed to Mei, and asked her, "What am I doing here? Where am I going next?"

"Well, you're here to heal and recuperate. Ideally, you'd get adopted by a loving family. To be honest, children with special needs are harder to get adopted-"

"I don't have special needs."

"I didn't mean physically. Not like the other three. But, unfortunately, from your traumatizing experience, you may have significant mental health issues. We need to get you to a doctor to check."

"But… can't medicine fix me?" he asked, brows furrowed deeply, now dyed black like his hair. He didn't even need to dye it, he could have altered the appearance. She said it wasn't that simple. Rei was always taking different pills but they never made her better. Endeavor would drop off prescriptions and she'd take them because she was told to. Fucking spineless, even about her own health. What a weak bitch. He hated her like he hated Endeavor.

He impatiently asked, "Well, when will I get better?"

"It's up to you getting the help you need. Getting help for mental health is not weakness." Dabi was about to protest before she spoke again. "You're telling society, which stigmatizes mental health 'fuck you, I'll take care of myself, I don't care what you think of me'." Dabi was mildly surprised she swore.

He stared at her with furrowed brows and wide blue eyes. "Taking care of yourself over others is a strength, not a weakness," she said firmly, making full eye contact. Rei and Endeavor never did that, and he felt some sort of inkling that maybe she respected him. That he wasn't a burden and disappointment.

Mei waited for him to gather himself. "I can't tell them about my quirk."

"And that's fine. Nobody needs to tell their therapist everything, you don't even need to tell them anything if you aren't comfortable. They are meant to be patient, and are trained to be just that." Dabi nodded, and wiped under his nose. "Would you like to practice your quirk with me? I do with all of the children."

Dabi shrugged, not really knowing what he'd practice with. He was good at it already, maybe he should see what kinds of animals he could turn into since he had full control of what his body looked like. So why couldn't he be an animal or add wings? Would adding cat ears change the way he could hear?

"You could try adding features. Is there anything you have in mind?" she asked. Dabi looked at his feet. If he'd been able to fly, maybe he could have flown away to safety. Though Hawks could fly, too, the prick and would have snatched him out of the fucking sky to do what his masters said. Fucking pet bird.

Scuffling his feet a bit, the fifteen year old said, "Flying would be nice…"

"Then you want to form wings?" Dabi nodded. "Then let's try it." He followed her outside, confused by any adult taking interest in him like this. Dabi was a suspicious person by nature, even more now that he'd been targeted by the biggest of big wigs, but she seemed genuine. And she helped other disabled kids.

They spent an hour trying to form wings for Dabi, and he managed to grow them, but found that he would need to make accommodations for the rest of his body to support his weight unless his wings would be too big to be practical. He was happy! It was a project just for him, and it was something he wanted to do himself. He could explore instead of hide.

Mei and the kids brought anatomy books and picked out books on flight on a tablet. They also brought out an umbrella and worked to stab it into the ground behind where he was sitting in the backyard so he didn't have to risk seeing any birds fly overhead. Then, they went back inside, and didn't expect any thank you.

He looked at the books and the umbrella blocking the sun and triggers, and wondered if there were people that nice in the world. He'd never met any. But these kids seemed so kind. Maybe they pitied him. He was pretty pitiful.

There's a difference between pity and sympathy, Rei's voice said in his head when he'd slapped her for giving him a look. He was then beaten by his father for it - only he could abuse Rei. But the words came to him, and they calmed his anger. And it wasn't fair, for him to be angry at their possible pity when he pitied them. He didn't want to be a hypocrite.

Food was brought to him, and then Asahi brought him a list of counselors, each one with a photo of themselves. He picked the blind one. Apparently all of the children picked her, which made sense. They were all fuck ups. No, it wasn't their fault they were damaged, they were all young kids. It was the adult's in their lives that fucking failed them.

Just like those in Touya's life. But Dabi's? Maybe this shitty new life on the run he chose could be better in some ways. He spent the day reading outside, this odd feeling of relief coming over him. It went away when a bird landed a few feet away. He started screaming and trying to get away.

It was humiliating, and he was crying over it, but Mei just ran her hand through his hair. She didn't tell him to stop crying, just sat with him. He wanted her to go away, to stop watching, but she stayed. He didn't know what to feel.

-x- Keigo -x-

Keigo was treated like a pariah by Jeanist's sidekicks. They wanted nothing to do with him, and avoided speaking with him at all. "Excuse me?" he asked, planning on asking if there was a limit on how much water could be used for the shower, and the woman looked at him in annoyance and disgust. Keigo deflated, his wings drooping. He'd stopped trying to fake his feelings. It was hard, but he was able to look disappointed, as it was his most frequent feeling.

He went out on flights, but only high in the sky where he just looked like a bird because people on the street weren't kid to him when he was recognized. He only went out places wingless, and was currently applying for a job in one of the stores around the agency. He wanted to be independent at least a little, even in this stage of the firestorm.

Even if he was brainwashed and groomed, he still made the choice to torture someone who was begging for him to stop. It was like a fat blood stain on white clothing. It was like a brand. Would he always be seen that way? Was being 17 still too old to claim to not know better? He felt completely alone, and refused to cause trouble for the guy selflessly housing him.

But Best Jeanist was seen as both crazy and too kind, to take in Keigo. He was currently walking around with his clunky backpack, sunglasses on with a lollipop stick in his mouth. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he didn't even notice passing by Endeavor, his eyes down at his feet, back stiff, just hoping nobody saw him.

But Endeavor recognized him, and grabbed his arm. "Takami Keigo." It was still odd to hear others say it, but so much more validating than hearing his hero name ever had been. Keigo looked up and gasped at seeing his childhood hero. He beamed, but then faltered, wishing he'd met him on better terms.

"Well, that's me, Endeavor-san."

"I have some questions for you. Let's return to someplace private." He lead Keigo to a car with a driver in the front. "As a hero to a hero, I want to speak to you. Sakazuki, you can leave for right now." The driver got out and Keigo slid inside the back seat. He took his backpack off, his baby wings sticking out of his leather jacket.

"Can I have your autograph?" Keigo asked brightly. Endeavor looked a bit surprised, but nodded, and since Keigo had no paper, he signed his arm, and Keigo took a photo of it. Good enough. "So, what's the questions, Endeavor-san?"

Please, don't be about Touya. "I want to ask you about the boy you hurt." Motherfucker. "Was his name Touya?" Keigo furrowed his brows, but Endeavor was a hero, so he had a right to know. Keigo nodded, and the car heated up a few degrees. Endeavor was angry. "Touya is my son. He went missing."

Keigo gaped, looking horrified. He looked at his hands. He tortured his idol's child. It was cruel irony, a mockery. Keigo had done a lot of things to warrant bad karma, but this was just overkill. "Where did he go?" It had been a week since Keigo came out.

"I don't know. My… ally, she didn't tell me. I have no idea where he is, but I trust her to have gotten him to safety." Who the hell knew where she went? At least she ditched before she could have gone to prison for the things she'd done for the Commission. Well, the former Commission. New positions were being filled, and the whole system was being reworked to not have a single leader, but multiple highly educated and capable people making a committee.

"How badly was he hurt when he left?"

"Oh, he was fine. Well… traumatized and all, but his wounds kept regenerating, so there was no lasting damage." Keigo said something wrong when Endeavor glared at him.

"Touya doesn't have a regeneration quirk, he can use fire." Oh, shit. But when Keigo didn't backtrack, Endeavor looked shocked and angry. "What happened there? What were they doing to him?"

"Uh, they wanted to know what his quirk was. I was told it was a high level, dangerous quirk. He refused to tell anybody, even as he was hurt," Keigo said slowly, confused by the expressions on the number two's face. "Did - did you not know?"

"No. All this time he only presented he could control fire, and not very well. You said he was regenerating? Every wound?" Keigo nodded. "How fast?"

"Instantly. It seemed to exhaust him, though. That's all I saw of him."

"Maybe it's not the same Touya. How foolish of me."

"Can you show me a photo, so I can confirm it?" Keigo offered. Endeavor pulled out his phone, but there was no recent photo of Touya in the gallery. Only one from what had to be many years ago. But it was clearly a younger version of the boy he tortured. The "man" in disguise. "That's definitely who I was w-working with."

"Did he fight back at all?"

"I don't know, I was only there after he was chained to the floor." The temperature rose again and Keigo was now sweating. "When I saw him, he was begging for help and insisting he never hurt anyone." Endeavor's face looked pained, and Keigo felt bad. Felt bad for telling a father how their child was tortured. By him. God, he tortured his idol's kid, and then lost him and gave the guy bad news.

Had Touya only recently procured that quirk, or had he been hiding it his whole life? "It is possible he went missing and was given a second quirk? Maybe he didn't want to admit it because he would be ratting out someone who gave quirk -"

"Don't thread conspiracies so quickly." Keigo looked down and apologized. It felt like forever since he was reprimanded, but it was normal. He wasn't too upset. More angry at himself for being the one in this position. "I should get going," he said, and opened the car door and walked away as quickly as he could.

It was not his business, but he wondered if the Commission was aware he was Endeavor's child. They had to know, they weren't stupid. Did they plan on killing Touya after they got information out of him, or did they have a plan on how to return the damaged boy to his father? Keigo looked over his shoulder at the car, which drove away.

He pulled his hat down lower, moping. Why'd it have to be Endeavor's kid? Had Nagant known who he was? Where did she take him, and where did she go? Keigo had no idea how to find Touya for Endeavor because he wasn't told where she was going. Keigo knew he wasn't dead from the reddit response. Maybe they could trace his IP address through that. No, not 'they'. Keigo would never inflict pain on him by appearing to the kid. And Touya might have a reason for not returning home. It would have been easy to get back in contact with his hero father. It would be beyond easy, but he hadn't. It had been over a week, and Touya didn't reach out to his public figure father.

Or was he in a bad condition? And was that reddit response reputable from him? He didn't know, but was now doubting that he was sure Touya was safe. He returned to the agency, disappointed with the day. Nobody wanted to hire him - he was very bad press. Jeanist was already taking flack for it.

Keigo felt like poison to the world. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, but it wasn't a nice one.

-x- Dabi -x-

Dabi did not like therapy. This woman was blind, and couldn't see his glaring, but he was positive she knew he was in a less than savory mood. "What are your hobbies, Dabi-kun? Have you started to work on them after what happened?" She knew about Dabi being Touya, but swore not to say anything, even after Endeavor put out a missing person's ad for him. This woman was a counselor to nearly all of the kids who had lived and were currently living with Mei and Asahi. So she kept her mouth shut, and Dabi trusted the trust the two foster parents had in her.

"I used to play video games," Dabi grumbled.

"What kind of video games?"

"The violent kind."

"Do you think having access to video games again could help?" Dabi shrugged before remembering she couldn't see, and just mumbled out that he wasn't sure. "I'm sure Mei-san would be more than willing to try for you." Dabi agreed. She was too nice for her own good. And it was so fucking weird that Asahi, the man of the house who had another job, spent actual time with the kids. He spent the weekends with them all day, taking them places, playing with them. It was wrong. The father worked and the mother raised the children.

That's what his parents had said, and both sets of grandparents. Dabi wasn't sure what they were all thinking. Maybe they were all too stupid to realize why he hadn't contacted his family after coming aware after the torture. If he wanted to go back, it would have been easy, he would have been able to contact Endeavor so fast.

But he didn't. He changed his appearance to become Dabi. Touya was dead. That was his motto. Touya was dead, and Dabi was born. So far, he honestly liked Dabi more. This life was so, so different it was like whiplash, almost painful and leaving him sore inside. He wondered if his biological siblings would ever get second chances. He didn't much care. He didn't want any part of Touya's life, which included everybody he knew.

Not that he knew anybody but his family. He'd be starting high school after having not gone to school since elementary age. At least he didn't want friends, and he wasn't bothered by bullying if they made fun of something he chose to do. School would start soon, and Dabi was going to be the new kid.

Once upon a time, he'd wanted to go to a hero school, but that was long ago. And heroes were all shit. They abused innocent people and hid it. At least Hawks came out about it, but by then the damage was done. By then, it was too late and Dabi was plagued with nightmares. He was terrified of the dark, imagining the sounds of boots or high heels clacking on the floor beside his head before he was hurt again.

Asahi stopped wearing his boots and now wore sneakers on the wood floor to make him feel safer. The other kids seemed to have no problems with Dabi's behavior, and he continued to realize that they all had fucked up lives, and were no doubt the same as Dabi had been. None of them knew he was Touya, but they knew he was really hurt by a hero.

When he got home, he walked to Asahi, Mei taking a bath, and mumbled, "Tatami said I should get video games."

"Would you like to go out and buy it with me?" the man asked easily. Dabi looked up and searched his eyes for a lie, for fakery, but there was none. "We can get you some noise canceling headphones while we're at it so you no longer hear the birds when outside." Dabi flushed, but it was hard to tell with his voluntary scars.

The torture victim nodded, looking at his feet. So they left when Mei got out of the bath. Dabi sat in the passengers seat, hating driving so much and feeling sick the whole way to the store. It wasn't to a busy mall, but an shopping outlet. It was a week day afternoon, so not many people. They walked into the electronics store, and Dabi glanced all around, curious. The Todoroki estate had not had modern technology.

"Want to look around?"

"N-No. It's okay," he said quickly, thankful when Asahi just nodded, respecting his words even if they seemed like a lie. They walked to the game area, and got Dabi a Switch so he could take it places with him, and take it outside. He got a few games, and was smiling brightly at it, the staples pulling on his skin painlessly again. He didn't care about the stares, he really didn't.

In a way, it felt good. He was noticed, even if it wasn't for anything good. He was noticed as a freak. And he was. His quirk was wrong, it was too much. He tried to hide it, even though deep inside, he really wanted to use it however he wanted. But it was proven that people would be after him if they knew.

He got some fancy headphones that blocked out all sound unless he purposely used a quirk that gave him enhanced hearing. He was happy with his spoils, and was even bought a bag of candy! It was a great outing, and he stopped at the self check out for a moment. "What's up?" Asahi asked, carrying the bag.

"Do you think the others would want some candy?" he asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, we should buy some. That's very considerate of you," he praised. Dabi flushed and frowned, glad that was all that was said and he wasn't celebrated again. He didn't really care if they wanted candy, or if they'd be jealous that he came home with his own. Yeah, he didn't care. But when he got home and handed them the candy, they were happy to share. Thankfully, none of them were huggers and he wasn't upset. He hated touch by anyone but when Mei pet his hair, instead of yanking on it like Endeavor had. He only had three foster sisters, now. He was the only boy.

He wondered if he'd ever get adopted. Probably not, but that was fine. He'd planned on living on his own somehow when he ran away anyways. He went upstairs to unbox his Switch, and happily booted it up, playing for a few relaxing hours. The games weren't violent, but it was fine this way. He'd previously played on the PC, but this was fun, he could lay on the bed. He liked the bed more than the futon mat from his old house.

When Rika came and told him dinner was starting, Dabi went down and helped out, like he did every night, and how he cleared up the table. He felt he was freeloading - even if this was foster care - and wanted to do his share. Mei didn't have too much help in the kitchen, so the teen was glad to be of use.

His quirk was amazing and diverse, but he used very little of it for his daily life. It was just bottled up potential, and that was it. There was no reason to use it to the fullest. He wasn't a hero or villain, so he had no good reason to take advantage of the power.

The next day, he was outside again, and reading about avian quirks, already having designed his wings, no feathers. More like leathery bat wings. He was super extra and added gold ring piercings to it. He liked seeing the light glint off of the staples on his wrists and neckline. He felt unique, and he liked it. There was something interesting about him on the outside, when it had never, ever been that way. Shoto had always looked so much more original with his split hair and eyes.

After finishing the last book, Dabi brought out his wings, having cut wing holes out of the shirt since changing clothes was harder than just the body, so he was wearing proper attire for his activities. He attempted to fly, but it didn't work, so he was trying to modify the rest of his body to pull it off.

But it didn't work and he kept falling. Every time he hit the ground he gasped, the blunt force trauma of it reminding him of beng hit, over and over. He laid on his stomach, hands fisting in the grass, ripping it up. He sobbed quietly into the lawn. His whole body wracked with trembles.

What is your quirk! Answer now and I won't gouge out an eye! Dabi whimpered, the voice echoing in his head, imagining that blade coming close to his eye, how he begged for him not to. Hawks hadn't looked an ounce bothered at doing such a thing to somebody. He curled up onto his stomach in child's pose.

Nobody came out to see him, and he wished they did because he couldn't ask for help himself. He couldn't ask for affection or to talk. It just wasn't possible for someone like him. He couldn't help but not sound grateful for the care. He was a "troubled teen". Hopefully he didn't suck at high school. Hopefully he didn't have episodes there.

Would he make friends? He had no idea, and was scared to even try. They would just use him for something and throw him away, like his father had. Dabi blamed him and himself. If only he'd tried harder, maybe he'd have been loved. It was his fault for doing that, keeping it a secret. If his identity got out as the boy who was tortured, Endeavor would know he could regenerate, at least. That Dabi lied to him for so long. Heh, he hoped he was pissed and confused.

Once he was done with his episode, he went inside and made himself some tea. Dabi brought his tea upstairs, shoes at the sliding glass door to not track dirt inside, and went to his bed to play some videogames. He sunk into the special mattress with a sigh.

He didn't think anyone would adopt him, and honestly didn't care. He'd just enjoy the royal treatment while it lasted. He could make a living off of his quirk for sure. Dabi didn't know how, but he could. He was committed to only using his chosen quirk around anyone for the rest of his life. After all, it was a quirk rolled up into many possibilities. Turning into animals, flying, breathing underwater possibly, and changing his human appearance. All of those were possible with his chosen one.

And it had been a quirk originally that he'd stored. He saw it off TV once, so it wasn't like it was impossible to have this power. He had always been good at mastering quirks without much effort put in, so he hadn't needed to train this one for years. He didn't need training at all, just an empty room and some time to himself in the quiet.

Shoto was brutally trained to "get better", and Dabi wondered if he'd benefit more from just being left alone to explore his power un"assisted". He played on his Switch, enjoying the peace and quiet. He didn't need to listen to make sure there were no heavy footsteps coming towards his door.

Not just because it was carpet here and nobody but Asahi walked around with anything more than socks on, but because Dabi's bedroom door had a lock and Asahi had given no show he hurt them, and the other children had assured him they were good people on the first day. Apparently they all came from abusive homes. They would be honest if they knew the place Dabi was now staying was toxic as well.

It felt wrong to get all of these good things while other people suffered. He had no desire to go out and do charity work, but he still didn't wish pain on innocent people. Not like had happened to him all his life, mentally, physically and emotionally. He did wonder if he'd ever see his siblings again.

Even if Endeavor came knocking on the door right now, Dabi would shapeshift into someone completely different and the guy wouldn't be any the wiser. Shoto had two quirks, maybe it was possible Dabi had two, fire and regeneration. Nobody at the HPSC had gotten information about his power out of him, and he was damn proud of that. They would have thrown him in jail if they knew of his power.

Dabi still wondered how they knew he had a strong quirk. He never went out in public enough to showcase any sort of strong abilities. He was very careful, but it seemed that wasn't enough to keep him safe. Oh well… he couldn't go back to the past, and Dabi's whereabouts hadn't been discovered so far. He could only hope that stayed. If Endeavor discovered him, Dabi honestly didn't know what the response would be. Would he beat hm for it? Or would he suddenly have faith in Dabi's abilities and spend time with him? Both sounded equally unpleasant.

It wasn't until he woke up from a nightmare that Dabi realized he'd fallen asleep. He was soaked in sweat, where there were two pairs of eyes staring down at him while he bled out on the floor, small and weak. One of sharp blue, and the others were bright gold. Dabi shut his eyes and rubbed them with the heel of his palms.

He slapped his cheeks twice and went to take a shower. He peeked down the hall first and saw the master bedroom door was open. The other doors were shut with the signs turned outward that someone was inside. Each door had a little "opened" or "closed" sign, and the side would be displayed whether you were inside or not, as the doors always stayed shut.

The teen drew a bath and then slipped inside, under the hot water, with a sigh through the nose. He went boneless and relaxed, tilting his head back against the bathtub wall, as the tub was inside the wall, not separate. He slumped down lower until his knees were fully out of the water and up to his nose was covered.

Looking at his hands, he imagined them having webbing between the fingers. It was unpleasant, but not as bad as when he tried turning into an animal. He slumped beneath the surface completely and called forth a quirk that allowed someone to breathe and see underwater. He opened his eyes and clearly saw his feet and the drain while he breathed through his nose, oxygen filtering into his sinuses while keeping water out. So he didn't fill his lungs with water, only the oxygen that resided in it.

He would ask to go swimming at the beach. Maybe he could practice quirks in the water where people weren't around to see. Mei encouraged the kids learning how to utilize their quirks, and Tatami, his therapist, said that learning to master a quirk was a natural way of building up confidence in yourself.

Dabi surfaced and breathed the normal air before finally starting to wash his body, the tub filling with suds and the smell of the mint scented soap. Taking a long bath back at his original house wasn't feasible. Baths were for women. Dabi huffed and dried off, refusing to use his fire so he didn't steam dry himself, but used a towel.

When dinner was had, Dabi was told that he'd be getting an evaluation on his education. "We need to know what grade to put you in, and we can't access your home schooling records, so it must be through your own doing to find out." Dabi grumbled under his breath while he drained the rice. "Hopefully you'll go to the correct grade of the first year high school."

Dabi looked down at his damaged skin, but had no regrets on what he chose his main appearance to look like. He hadn't shifted back a single time, so he hadn't seen his old face in weeks. He was glad he was able to throw away what he used to look like in a way of moving on from who he was.

When sitting down at the dinner table, Rika had trouble with her prosthetic and cutting things, so Dabi took the plate and knife and cut the meat into small pieces, wordlessly, with no expectation of a thank you. She smiled and ate her food without trouble. Dabi was silent through the meal, not hungry but not wanting to waste time and resources by refusing just because he was in a bad mood.

He finished food, helping to clean up, and then went to his room and snuck out the window. He was fifteen, he could handle himself outside… no. No, he hadn't been able to. He stood on the roof outside his big window, and then sat down, pulling his knees to his chest. He hadn't been able to protect himself, save himself, defend himself. Not then and not now. Well, now, he wasn't hiding his power, and now he knew to be on guard. And to stay away from bad people like Hawks.

Honestly, he wished he could thank the woman that got him out, but he was fairly sure she was one of them, or else how could she have gotten inside to take him out? Hawks felt sorry, yeah. He made that clear, and Dabi hadn't further admonished him while his life was in pierces, but that did not mean he forgave him or ever, ever wanted to see his ugly mug again.

He knew his foster… family was trying to hide Hawks from him. He was on the news often, in articles, mostly photos of him taken when he didn't want it. He moped around a lot. He wasn't the one who got tortured. And he was fine up until then with how he'd been being treated. Maybe he just used Touya's torture as an out, for him to escape and betray his backers.

Dabi had no desire for the Commission to keep any of their pet children, and he didn't care if they were all betrayed, but Hawks wasn't a good hero, and he should quit. He cheated his way to being a hero, not needing to go through the work of a hero school, he got one on one tutoring. Shoto would have an unfair advantage, but he at least would be attending hero school.

The teen had no desire to forgive or forget. He knew he'd never be able to, and he had to deal with that fact.

What is your quirk! Answer now and I won't gouge out an eye!

Fucking prick.