This is an alternate universe of U3, based on the more common SI (self-insert) story of "isekaied and awakening in a new body.
Edited: 7/13/21 for better clarity and storytelling purposes. New chapter coming soon. Stay tuned. Old version was shit.
Hopefully, it will be unlike any SI story you've ever read. I hope you all will enjoy this story. I've put a lot of care into this story.
Fear not, if you are unfamiliar with re zero, I will explain the references.
Satella is the one responsible for saving his life and watches over him. It will be featured more prominently here than in u3. Thus, it's being moved to the crossover section.
So it is with that that I let you know one thing: in this story, Aiden is not a jerk.
But he doesn't know Touya at all in this universe. This is a more realistic take on what an amnesiac SI would do in a different universe, without knowing a thing about what's happening, or why he's/she's there.
I promise you, this IS really good.
Well, let's get to it.
In typical SI fare, Aiden has replaced Touya.
Or shall we say, "Dabi."
Character exaggeration of Endeavor is to be found in this-if you like him, this fic is not for you. No one else will be exaggerated except him.
Please read and review.
Chapter 1: Rising from the Flames
The sight before them was impossible to believe, but it was real nonetheless, no matter how much they tried to deny it.
The doctors didn't seem to know what to do with the child who had just been brought inside mere hours ago after an accident gone horribly wrong.
The mood was a somber one, and for good reason; Touya Todoroki, the eldest son of Endeavor seemed like he was beyond saving.
He had been in a comatose state for days.
No matter what they tried, Touya Todoroki would not wake up.
Endeavor awaited their decision, staring scornfully at the unconscious form of his son.
His red hair was barely visible due to the reddish-purple scars that adorned the lower half of his face; and more scars were on the rest of his body as well.
White gauze covered his injuries and skin grafting had been done to replace some skin lost on his back.
All in all, it was a horrific accident, resulting from an overuse of his quirk. Some children could never learn to use their quirk properly.
Endeavor watched his son's motionless form silently. He had been like this for hours, pacing back and forth, before storming out and coming back in.
"Endeavor, sir, how did he get like this?" The doctor asked.
Endeavor frowned, before speaking in a rather scathing tone, "It is simple. My…inexperienced son decided to use his quirk without any real knowledge of his power and is now here because of it. You can imagine how hard this is for me. Have there been any signs of brain activity?"
He glowered at the unconscious teen, as if by existing in such a state, that the boy had proved his point.
Admittedly, the boy had been growing more rebellious lately, but for him to injure himself to this degree...Enji's lips curled in disgust.
Such a waste of someone who may have been a good neighborhood hero or at the very least, a lowly assistant.
He did not see the point of trying harder with Touya. Clearly, the boy was as much of a waste of time as his other two siblings were.
Shouto would fulfill his own dream for him.
'Any use I have for you is gone, boy.' He thought in triumph.
Endeavor also noticed something that made him seethe in rage. There were faint strands of white hair around the sides of his son's head and at the tips, but though they were insignificant in number and seemed to show no signs of overtaking his primary hair color, the sight made his hackles rise.
This was proof that Touya was a failure. Finally, one child who resembled him entirely and he had to inherit the useless gene.
'Worthless woman.' He thought angrily.
"No, he has not responded to anything we have done. There appears to be no brain activity."
Endeavor stared intently at the catatonic body of his son, making up his mind then and there about what to do next.
He would just tell his children Touya had tragically died.
"You are worthless to me now, Touya. You are not fit to be a hero, and are now disowned, and no longer my son."
"But sir, there is a chance he could wake up."
Endeavor stared at the doctor coolly, "I've always known my eldest son was a failure. This just proves it. He should have been able to handle these injuries, and his quirk. He means nothing to me, so long as he is like this. I'll give you one more day. If he doesn't wake up, you know what to do. Let no one see him when you do it. It would generate bad press."
They couldn't believe Endeavor could cold-bloodedly abandon his eldest son like this; yet none of the staff raised any objections to how he had treated his son.
Endeavor left, in good spirits, disturbingly enough.
"He's just a child." A nurse remarked, touching the teen's face.
His face was scorched and mangled by numerous purple blotches. Everywhere she looked, she saw burns.
It was as if the burns were the only things holding his face together.
'Frankly, he looks like a monster. How disgusting.' She thought apathetically.
She felt little sympathy for him, after how his obviously caring father tried so hard for him only for him to fail his dreams and goals so completely, she felt he deserved what he got.
He was not allowed to be visited by his mother or his siblings, even if he was to awaken.
'So he's supposed to be impulsive and out of control, huh? It is pathetic that he couldn't control his own quirk. I swear, kids these days can't even control themselves. If he throws a fit, I am not responsible for anything that happens.'
The nurse decided then and there that he deserved what happened to him, unbelievably.
She watched for any signs of activity and shrugged and decided to go back to her work, when something happened.
The teen miraculously came back to life.
She could see that his breathing and heart rate had suddenly spiked up and his brain activity was spiking up to normal levels.
"Unbelievable." She breathed.
He'd been unconscious for two weeks, and no one thought he would ever wake up; yet he was acting responsive, something that seemed very impossible considering the circumstances.
Endeavor must be notified at all costs.
'Better for me, so that I don't have to look at his hideous face anymore.' She thought scathingly.
That was when she felt a hand touching her arm; a hand that was oh too hot.
She flinched at his touch, repulsed by his appearance.
He barely resembled a human anymore, in her opinion.
The teen spoke, his blue eyes filled with confusion.
"Excuse me...miss..." He said raspily, "W-Who are you?"
What could she even say to him? Besides, it wasn't like she wanted to say anything to him.
He was obviously a spoiled hero brat who Endeavor had disowned to teach him a lesson.
However, as Endeavor was a hero, she concluded it was probably best to do what Endeavor said, and if putting up with the brat for a little bit was what he wanted done, so be it.
"Um, you have been in a...coma." She said nervously.
"A coma?" He asked, looking at her in confusion.
"Yes."
He remained silent for a moment, before he spoke again.
"What's that?" Touya asked.
"It's when you're asleep for a long period of time and don't wake up on your own." She said reluctantly.
'God, he's pathetic and stupid. I pity Endeavor.' She thought.
"Oh." He said, looking like he had no thoughts going on at all in his brain.
"You haven't been awake for two weeks." She added.
He frowned and stared at her, uncomprehending.
"Why did I get like that?" He asked, "And why does everything hurt?"
She sighed in irritation, annoyed by all of his questions.
"You used your fire quirk...and suffered many injuries from it." She sneered.
"My...quirk?" The red-haired teen whispered, having ignored her reactions to him.
He seemed to understand that much, at least.
At least she wasn't dealing with a quirkless freak.
"Yes, there was an accident with your quirk. so you are here recovering from it. Do you know your name, Mr. Todoroki?"
He stared at her for a long moment.
"Todoroki…? Who is that?"
She'd seen the state of shock to his brain from the accident; no one should have survived that kind of injury.
The damage to his brain had caused amnesia, she reasoned.
Great, so there'd be no chance of the vegetable leaving any time soon. At least he was conscious, as she hated treating unconscious ones.
"Do you know where we are?" She continued brusquely, beginning the examination.
"In a hospital...in Japan." He said, his hands shaking.
"What's the city?" She said snidely, taking his readings.
Everything appeared normal.
"Mustafu." He replied.
He gave the correct year as well.
Hopefully, he would heal and get the fuck out of her sight, maybe be transferred somewhere else.
"Miss?"
She looked at him, disgusted that he was even speaking to her.
"Could I have some water?"
Begrudgingly, she did her job, praying that he would get locked away somewhere so she didn't have to see him anymore.
"Dabi's" perspective (will be that way for rest of fic)
Where was he?
How had he gotten here?
Why was he here?
These questions drifted endlessly through his mind.
He awoke in an unknown place, his hands clenching soft sheets.
The young man gazed around in confusion.
How long he had been asleep he did not know.
All he knew was that he was in a hospital of some kind.
The young man glanced around and spotted a woman.
He knew this woman was a nurse and as she tried to explain things to him, all he could do was listen to her.
She explained that he was in some kind of accident and had lost his memories.
That sounded hard to believe.
As far as he knew, he had always been a healthy young person. Surely he couldn't lose his memories. What kind of joke was that?
As his mother always used to say…what did she say again?
The nurse spoke again.
"What's your age?"
He frowned.
How old was he again? How weird, this shouldn't be something he should struggle with.
"Twenty?" He mumbled, scratching his head.
She frowned. "You are fifteen years old."
Fifteen?
'I guess so…' He thought.
It sounded right to him, even though a small part of his mind disagreed with that assertion.
The nurse was speaking again, so the young man decided to listen, snapping out of his reveries.
"What's your birthday?"
"January 18..." He said automatically. Again, he wondered if his birthday was on another date, but he couldn't remember if it was or wasn't.
She must be right.
He had a family, she told him.
"Where is my mother?" He asked.
He thought that surely his mother would be there, waiting for him to awaken.
Surely, she would be there for him.
He thought of a kind and gentle woman who helped him through all his problems, but for some reason, he could not picture her face.
"You cannot see them currently. You need your rest, Mr. Todoroki." She urged.
He frowned at her. "What?"
"You know your name, don't you?" She repeated the question, as though he was an idiot of some kind.
'My...name? That should be easy...'
He searched his mind, eagerly.
He should know his name, obviously.
"Well?" She sneered.
It was…it was…that, right?
It came to him...but just as quickly, it was gone.
No, no, that couldn't be.
"I-I-I…don't…"
"I'm waiting." She snapped.
"I-I-I d-don't know." He whispered, as shame washed over him.
He tried to think of his name again, but nothing appeared in his mind.
This couldn't be..this couldn't be! This was ridiculous!
'I don't know my name! I don't know my name! I don't know my name!' He screamed at himself.
He really was weak.
He shook, as hot tears welled in his eyes, and he started crying, but it burned.
'Why did it burn when I cried?'
Blinking, he reached a shaking hand up to feel and felt raw, aching skin under his jaw and around it, as well as metal implements in them.
What the fuck was that?
This couldn't be.
This couldn't be possible.
What should he do?
"You're not a child, so stop crying." The nurse sneered at him.
What was wrong with her?
How could he not be upset?
He didn't know who he fucking was.
Fifteen years of his life and all of his memories were just gone, snatched away from him for some reason.
He placed his head in his hands, shaking hysterically.
'Who am I? Who am I? Remember! You've got to remember! I need to remember my name and something important-but I can't remember anything!'
His mind desperately tore through itself, looking for the answer, finding nothing but blanks in its place.
What was his favorite music? His favorite movie? His favorite hero? His favorite book? His favorite food?
What was his first memory? His favorite drink? His favorite tv show?
Nothing came back to him at all; just emptiness.
All of this had been purged from his memories.
He had no answers.
'What about my phone number? My Internet provider? My address? My mother's name? My father's name?'
That too, turned out blank.
Besides, quirks...those sounded too familiar, like they were something he should know very well.
He started to tremble and shake violently, terrified at his haunting reality.
'How the hell could I forget? What in the world? I know who I am! I know who I am!'
Then, it came.
'It will be all right,' A soft, lilting voice whispered.
The voice that had whispered to him sounded like it was female.
He glanced up, only to see nothing and no one.
He wasn't sure if he had imagined it.
"Todoroki?"
He tilted his head, wondering what she was talking about.
"Do you remember your last name?"
He shook his head, "No…."
'No, that's not right, that's not right.'
"You are Mr. Touya Todoroki and Endeavor-Enji Todoroki is your father."
She placed photographs in his hands.
He gazed at the photos, taking in the people pictured in them. He felt like he needed to look at them for some reason.
He needed something to hold onto.
"Do you recognize them? These people are your family." She said snidely.
There was a woman with long white hair and grey eyes, who looked like she'd been through hell and back. This person had to be his mother.
She was laughing in the picture-the sight made his heart twinge, for some reason.
All around the woman were children, four of them in total.
The first one that caught his eye was that of a girl, around eleven if he had to guess. She had the same white hair as the woman, only her hair was peppered with strands of red. She, too, had the same grey eyes as her mother.
He struggled to remember their names, but came to a blank.
'F-'
'Rei-'
Who were these people?
Although Rei sounded correct to his mind, he couldn't seem to place a name to the little girl. She just seemed to be a blank to him.
He found himself looking at the boy with completely white hair and equally gray eyes. The boy resembled his sister and had an impish grin as he smiled for the camera.
A name crawled up into his mind.
'Natsuo-'
There was a younger boy in the picture, too. He had two hair colors-was that even possible? He had half-red and half-white hair and his eyes were heterochromatic, one was gray and the other cyan.
He definitely recognized that face, almost like he had seen it on television before.
'Half-ice, half-fire...Sh-'
He stopped as a headache hit his temples.
The young man rubbed his head.
He spied two other figures in the pictures; an older man with red hair that was literally on fire and blue eyes that stared into his soul.
The older man made his heart shudder and filled him with a sense of dread. He wasn't sure why, he just felt terrified of him.
His gaze looked imperious.
'Endeavor...'
Somehow, he knew that was this man's name.
Just as quickly, a strange rage came coursing through his body.
Somehow, he didn't like this man. He hated him.
Why?
As he looked at the last figure; a teen with spiky red hair and blue eyes, a sharp headache hit him again.
'Jesus, why is my head hurting?'
"Where is my father? And what about my...family?" He asked shakily.
"You are to stay here in this hospital." She commanded.
What kind of a man was this "Endeavor", just ditching his son here to rot? Where was his father?
Surely no good parent would do that.
How dare he...how dare he.
He knew the name Endeavor, he knew it, and thus he clasped it in his mind with force.
But what had that other name been?
"Touya-san."
He flinched.
That was not his name.
It didn't sound like his name.
It didn't belong to him.
But, he debated, considering he couldn't remember, perhaps he'd just forgotten his own name?
He didn't feel like anything was right. He didn't recognize his name, he didn't recognize anything, and even the language he was speaking felt unfamiliar to him.
What kind of a joke was this?
He gazed at his hands, and gasped.
What the hell had happened to his hands?
As he gazed at himself in horror, he was horrified at what he saw.
His body was all messed-up.
His hands were completely covered in reddish-purple burns the color of radishes, and his neck and chest were the same.
Purple blotches covered him all over the place.
The only thing he could do was scream, which he did-loudly, because what the fuck happened to his skin?
What the fuck had he done to deserve this hell?
"Calm down, you have third degree burns from your quirk." The nurse droned.
Well, that was fucking nice.
He'd used his quirk so badly he'd both ruined his body and lost his memories.
He barely felt the nerves in his fingers at the moment.
Wasn't that a fun thing to wake up to?
'Touya' mulled over these things briefly before the nurse spoke again.
He could tell she seemed to dislike him for some reason.
"Are you going to wait for your father?"
He wasn't sure.
He didn't know what the man was like.
He nodded, deciding to wait.
She left briefly, during which time he pocketed the photos, deciding to take them with him when he left.
He didn't trust this place at all.
The people gave him strange stares, and seemed too unfriendly.
He read a magazine.
The words were confusing, but not at all unfamiliar to him.
He turned the pages, and managed to read a few pieces of text.
However, the words swam before his eyes all too often.
Only simple language seemed to be legible at the moment. Everything seemed to be swimming.
"It's probably from your brain damage." The nurse said.
The nameless teen cursed.
He was so useless.
First these burns, now the amnesia and adding to that, he couldn't read?
Why did knowledge seem so important?
What a fucking joke. Why was he so useless?
"Could you tell me more about the heroes? I don't remember." He confessed.
Sighing, the nurse sat down and told him about the heroes and slowly, his brain recognized the information as something he knew or had known before.
There was still too much he didn't know, and it scared him.
He waited for hours.
Nothing.
Endeavor did not come.
He ate some food, but his motor control was horrible, due to the burns.
His jaw ached terribly and he wound up spitting out his food, choking and coughing.
"What's wrong? Is the food not good enough for you?" The bitch sneered.
God, she acted like she was trying to set him off.
Later, he got to use the bathroom, and in doing so, he got his first look at himself in the mirror.
The sight made him want to smash the mirror for some bizarre reason.
He looked...no…he was the teen in the photo, but he also looked just like the mustached man-just like him!
He had spiky red hair, pale skin that was covered with blotches of purple skin, and turquoise eyes. His eyes looked right.
But everything else...he did not recognize this person before him. Was this him? Why didn't he recognize himself?
He didn't remember having had red hair before, hadn't it been...black?
The sight made him want to howl and break the mirror in rage.
Was it because he didn't know who he was?
'I guess I really do have amnesia, if I can't remember my reflection…' He thought.
How dare this Endeavor take everything from him-his memories, his life, even and leave him with this husk, this shell of himself.
Who was he?
He tore at the bandages with his nails, ignoring the bleeding.
Then, he got the news that scared him to his core.
"Endeavor has decided to come get you."
'Enji...Todoroki...'
'Do not trust Endeavor. Leave this place and fake your death.' The female voice whispered.
He agreed.
'I...can't be here when he gets here. If this Enji person did this to me and didn't let my family see me, then he must be...my enemy.'
He wasn't sure how he knew that.
He also kept seeing purple shadows in the background, but no one else seemed to be able to see them.
Who was she?
Again, he saw no one.
He could not help the raging fire that crawled under his skin. That must be his quirk.
He did not understand all of it, and not understanding was bad.
He had to escape.
He felt a shadowy hand on his back and he looked behind him.
Nothing was there.
'Touya', if that was indeed his name, seized his chance.
As kind as these people weren't, he had to leave.
There were too many unknowns, too many things he didn't know.
'Besides, that Endeavor person...he...he...he looks just like me. Disgusting...disgusting...filthy.'
He calmed himself, confused as to why on earth he would think the person was disgusting. He had never met him before.
What had that man planned to do to him if he hadn't woken up?
Would Endeavor have...killed him?
It made him shudder.
'This is why I hate heroes.' He thought.
He wasn't sure where he had gotten that thought.
Then, it happened.
The other person in the room beside his was awake and came into his room.
The man talked crazily and ranted while laughing at the young man.
"What a weakling, what a crybaby, what a coward you are! You look gross!"
"Coward...?" He said slowly, before he held his sides and laughed.
Who was this man to tell him what to do?
Everyone was looking down on him and he could take it no longer. They were hiding things from him.
"I'm not a coward..." He said, as blue fire developed on his fingers, burning his wrists more and eating away at the bandages.
The pain meant he was alive, whoever he was.
The flames grew stronger.
The man charged at him with a knife, and the only thought in his head was: I must survive.
He suddenly used the fire and the man was burning.
The man screamed as he burned to pieces.
He stared, wide-eyed, at the azure inferno that sprang up around them.
'What have I done? That's not right!' He thought in horror.
The bitchy nurse came into the room, but she, too, turned to ash and bone as the heat of the flames hit her.
Then, the entire room was burning around him and the corpses, as everything turned to ash, burning his bandages off and worsening his injuries.
"What have I done?" He whispered.
Yet it felt like something invisible was guiding him, he saw the purple hands again, that seemed to be protecting him from the effects of the blaze.
He noticed that the window was open.
Now was his chance.
He flung the window open and clumsily leapt out.
It was a big fall, but something invisible caught him, and that same thing propelled him to the ground.
He took off and did not look back, hoping only that the other people in the hospital who hadn't been dicks to him were okay.
In the end, only two bodies were found in the blaze.
The blaze was controlled as quickly as it began.
Later on, after he had stolen a hoodie from a trash can, he walked towards the bigger part of the city.
It was then that he saw the news announce that the eldest child of Endeavor had died of mysterious causes.
There was no picture given, which was fortunate.
"This is a terrible time for us all. Please keep us in your thoughts." Endeavor said.
Like that man actually meant anything he was saying.
He was obviously a terrible person.
He'd deal with Endeavor later.
He fixed his own wounds by taking some spare staples and bandages he had also stolen from the hospital bathroom and patching up the burns.
He frowned at his red hair in the mirror.
It was too distinctive, he had to dye it. Anyone could see him and remember the hair color.
Black hair might be best.
He didn't like the hair color at all.
It reminded him of Endeavor.
"What's my name?" He asked the empty bathroom.
No one answered, of course.
It hit him.
The letters of the alphabet came to him, somehow.
'A.'
His heart beat in excitement.
Did the A go in front or in the second? It was probably the second slot.
He searched for other letters.
C sounded wrong, but D sounded just right, too.
'Da?'
Every other letter except I sounded like complete garbage.
He was left with three letters: D, A, and I.
Was it the A that went first, the I that went second, and the D that went last?
It almost sounded right, but he thought it was wrong, somehow. They must go another way.
It had to be the D that came first.
The A had to go after it.
He had to have a name, something that tied him to this world.
He needed an identity.
"The I...something goes in between it..." He muttered.
The letter B suddenly came to his mind.
If he put that in between the other letters, what did he get?
That was it.
"D-a-b-i...Dabi..."
He let the name enter his mind, and somehow, it felt right.
"My name is Dabi...and I hate heroes..."
Not a single hero had come to find him.
They should have, and yet they didn't. Those heroes had let him "die" and they called themselves heroes!
Why wasn't a single hero there at the hospital?
Why wasn't Endeavor there?
What worthless people.
Why didn't those people try to help him escape?
"I was called Touya..." He muttered, then winced as a headache hit his temples.
These impromptu headaches were getting very annoying.
He glared at his face in the mirror.
There was no place for tears.
They had to go.
"I have to be strong." He muttered
Dabi lit his finger on fire and put his hand up to his eye, one after the other.
Even though it hurt and bled like crazy, he knew he was alive.
He waited for the wounds to settle after a day and then stapled the skin back together.
It was all part of making a new identity.
He found a bottle of black hair dye from a store and stole it.
He stared at his hair in the mirror, and smirked.
It looked better.
He didn't resemble that horrible man anymore.
It was two weeks after he'd run away, when he encountered the people who would be his first (though unintentional) victims.
He'd been outside, trying to get new clothing, since he kept getting taller and outgrowing these old clothes he had stolen, when some upstanding citizens decided to come taunt him.
"Hey, freak! What's with your face?"
"I didn't know they let the circus walk around town."
'Just ignore them...' Dabi thought, trying hard to suppress the boiling rage inside.
"You're not smiling for us!"
They were getting closer.
"Please leave me alone." He said, although it was a mistake to let fear creep into his voice.
Now they knew he was afraid.
Even so, they laughed and chased him as he ran.
Even though he begged him not to, they started to attack him.
Then it happened.
His quirk acted up again.
The first man was lit on fire and burned to death in a blast of azure flames.
Dabi stared, wide-eyed.
That had been a complete accident.
"You monster! You killed my friend!" The second assailant screamed.
"I didn't mean to..." He began.
The second person knocked him to the ground, and a knife was held against Dabi's throat.
Dabi lifted his hand up and again, the blue fire was on the man in seconds.
The second man screamed as he rolled around in fear and died.
The third man charged at him with a knife, intent on stabbing him in the gut.
Dabi flinched and waited for the end to come.
The blow never came.
Some great force slammed the man into a wall.
The man fell, clutching his chest and collapsed, presumably from a sudden heart attack.
But how?
Faced with three corpses, Dabi did the only thing he could do: he ran for his life.
He ran into another alley, terrified.
"What the hell are you...why are you following me?" He muttered.
Suddenly, the world froze.
He couldn't move or speak.
'What the fuck is going on?'
He saw a shadowy hand emerge from nowhere and stroke his cheek.
Terrified, he could only listen to the voice as the shadow claw held him prisoner.
"Dabi...Dabi...Dabi...I love you! Remember that I love you!"
He couldn't even see himself, he was surrounded by darkness.
What was this presence?
"I love you."
He started crying in response to hearing that statement. Someone cared about him.
Dabi knew that voice.
"Sa...tella..." He muttered.
"Yes, that's me." She said.
'Didn't want to kill...' He thought as the shadows nestled around him, 'But I didn't regret it...they tried to kill me. They deserved it and they got the receiving end of my wrath. I'm wrath...?'
"Dabi..."
He felt something cold slap his face gently.
"No." Satella, whoever she was, sounded disappointed in him.
"But...Endeavor...what do you know about him? Why don't I remember anything?" He said accusingly.
She was covered in shadow, so he couldn't see her face well.
She frowned.
"Endeavor is an enemy."
"I'm going to kill him...and please, please tell me...who am I?"
She refused to answer, shaking her head.
"You...you know me..." He said, starting to cry.
"I cannot tell you." She said softly, "But I love you…"
She was the only one who knew him.
In a world that did not notice him nor care, Dabi slept, all the while the shadows watched protectively.
He did not see Satella for a while.
During that time, he tried to seek employment.
However, more people rejected him because of his scars.
"The circus isn't hiring."
"Do you have any experience? Come to think of it, you look like you're going to start trouble."
The door was slammed shut in his face.
No matter where he went, everyone turned their backs on him.
He managed to at least get an apartment.
It was nothing too special, but Dabi didn't mind that it was dirty and rundown.
It was still a home.
Before he knew it, a year had passed, and he was sixteen.
He had found a part time job in the meantime, which was nothing special, but it was something.
That time came to an end when he discovered a man covered in bandages one night.
"What is a young boy like you doing here alone?" The man said softly.
"I've been rejected by the world around me and I don't like the heroes."
The man chuckled. "My name is Akaguro Chizome. What is your name?"
"Dabi."
"Do you wish to become a hero?"
"No, I want to be a vigilante. Someone who will weed out the fake heroes."
Stain smirked. "I like you, kid. You can be my apprentice. Clearly, you need to get trained physically."
Stain especially insisted on it upon learning of Dabi's amnesia.
Thus, his apprenticeship began.
He recalled how kind the woman who employed him was.
Not that he was employed anymore, as someone had complained about his scars.
She couldn't afford to backtalk her manager.
To hell with the Todoroki family.
Even though his mind screamed that he should recognize that name, he ignored it.
To hell with Endeavor.
The being called Satella occasionally talked to him.
But he knew that his journey was just beginning.
His flames would not be extinguished.
He was going to find his place in the world.
He would find out who he was.