CHAPTER 28: DRAGON

There were times when Dabi looked in the mirror he sometimes tried to remember what he originally looked like. It was at those times when he thought hard, he could see past the black hair, stitches and burned patches of skin and see that red haired boy from long ago. On bad days he would sneer at that weak pathetic boy. On really bad days he would breathe a sigh of sadness for just a moment.

'Touya Todoroki', that was his name once upon a time. Born with an exceptionally powerful fire quirk, potentially stronger than his father's, so he was told. Before his youngest brother developed his dual quirk Touya was dad's favorite. Favorite, how Dabi hated that title. In a normal family maybe the favorite son would get special treatment, food and gifts. In the Todoroki household being the favorite meant strict training from dear old dad, violence, pressure, verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Mom couldn't do anything or she too would feel his wrath. He was just a kid, yet whenever he failed to live up to dad's expectations he was called weak and useless. As if Endeavor had the right to mock weakness when he couldn't even surpass Allmight.

Touya finally couldn't take it anymore. He wanted out one way or another. One night he finally decided to just end it all. Leaving a note for his siblings to find he snuck out of the house. A young child of twelve wandered the city streets in the dead of night, looking for the best place to die and be free from this burden. He found it in the form of a bridge. Staring down into the dark water of the canal Touya found that he couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't that he didn't want to die, but he wanted to live to see his father's reputation ruined. That's when an idea popped into his head. He knew his suicide would warrant some form of investigation. They would look into the number two hero's home life. They would find out what he did and still does to his wife and children. They would plaster it everywhere. Everyone would know the truth. His rank would plummet and Touya would have his well-deserved justice.

Making up his mind, the young red headed boy took off his shirt and shoes and tossed them over the bridge into the river. The police would need to find something to confirm that he did indeed jump. Touya then vanished into the seedier parts of the city, stealing a cap and hoody to hide himself and simply waited for the fireworks to begin. Perhaps when Endeavor's career was in ashes he would come out of hiding just to laugh and reveal that he was the architect of his ultimate humiliation.

A few days passed, yet none of the things he imagined happened. Instead his death was labeled as a tragic accident. His twelve year old mind had gravely miscalculated just how corrupt Endeavor really was and what he would do to keep his reputation safe. Sinking so low as to not even report his own son was missing but dead. What happened to the note he left for his siblings? Why didn't they go public with it or tell mom? Did their father force them all to silence? He certainly had the power and pull to do something like that. Touya just couldn't believe that there wasn't a shred of honor or humanity in that man, to do this to his own family. Treating his own son like a disposable toothbrush to throw in the trash and replace.

Time passed and a funeral was held. The boy read all about it from a stolen newspaper. People actually consoled that bastard for the loss of his first born son. Even Allmight showed up and offered his sympathy. Not a single person save for his family knew the truth and no one ever would.

It was then that Touya learned that there was no justice in the world. If someone who everyone praised as such a great hero could get away with this then what was a hero anyway? True heroes didn't abuse their family and worse, not feel a shred of remorse or guilt. That man was a fraud and there was nothing the red head could about it. He couldn't go back now. There was no telling what Endeavor would do to him if it turned out he was alive. He might kill his son himself for real, just to cover his own lies.

Hiding out he spent most of his time doing odd jobs for local drug dealers and scum bags in the darker parts of the city. He lived in an abandoned train yard, using an old rusted caboose as a makeshift home. After about a year of this he could finally afford to change his identity. He heard that there was a guy who possessed a quirk that could alter a person's appearance and he did so for untraceable cash. He worked out of back alley surgery room in a moldy building. Touya saved up enough from his jobs to afford the hair color change at least. When he went back months later with more money the place was gone. He had heard that some underground hero named Erasure Head arrested the man with appearance altering quirk and shut his whole business down. With no other option the now sixteen year old Touya had to do the rest himself. The pain was excruciating. Using his own quirk he burned parts of skin, going a little too far at times, but the damage was done. The older he got the more he resembled that man and he hated it, so of course he wanted all likeness and similar traits obliterated. It would be a few years later that he would get metal piercings that resembled staples.

The first time he burned someone to death had been sort of an accident. He'd been having a bad day. First he got screwed over on a job. Turns out it was a set up and the heroes were waiting to capture a bunch of small time thugs. Touya just barely escaped, and when he returned to the garage the guy who hired him was long gone. He was most likely an undercover cop or hero the whole time. On top of that Endeavor was just commended for his long successful career and heroic deeds. They even gave him a medal for his services. If the public knew the truth about him they'd spit in his face whenever they walked by him. All the rage he felt lashed out when he was suddenly attacked by a group of thugs looking for some easy cash. Since this was the bad part of the city the likelihood of hero showing up to stop a mugging was pretty much nonexistent, so these muggings happened quite often. Having had enough Touya immediately exploded at the one with blades for fingers as he lunged towards him. His flames were so hot and intense that they turned blue and fried the cretin to a blackened crisp. The other scum bags ran off after what he did to their friend letting the young man take a good long look at his handiwork. Touya practically cremated him. He was revolted at first, but then he felt oddly relieved. The guy would have killed him if given the chance and he merely defend himself. Who knows how many people he killed with his quirk, he probably deserved this.

Word eventually spread. Just a bunch of overblown rumors in Touya's opinion. They called him the fire demon, the burner, the blue flame. The only nickname he sort of liked was the cremator. It was that word that gave in the idea for his knew name. Dabi, that's what he started introducing himself as. He spent the next few years wandering around burning any creep that crossed his path looking to start something with him.

The news, he despised them for taking bribes from heroes to keep certain stories quite. Every once in a while though they did something right. This time they spread the message of the Hero Killer. They were quickly stopped by the government of course but it was too late. Websites were created, posters were made, and even merchandise was being sold in stores based off the serial killer. At first Dabi assumed this guy was just another fad that would come and go without causing any real change to society. Heroes would still remain corrupt, real justice didn't exist any way.

Stain was different though. He actually left a mark on society with his crusade to eradicate every false hero. Dabi actually applauded his efforts. Maybe sooner or later people would start to question their precious heroes and maybe they would start to look a little closer at those they worship. He didn't have any hope though, but he'd carry on that man's creed regardless. Perhaps now was the time to stand for something.

When Dabi first joined the League of Villains he had very low expectations. It wasn't the first organized group of villains that claimed to be different than the others, and he had a feeling it would probably end up just like the rest. Their leader Shigaraki was an irritating man child and not to mention unpleasant to look at. Then there was Toga, a psychotic blood obsessed little bitch. The smoky bartender Kurogiri, the ridiculous clowns known as Compress and Twice, that androgynous creep Magne, and the hero killer cosplayer Spinner. There was also the mysterious voice over the monitor screen that Shigaraki hung on his every word named Sensei. All in all they were a real motley group of second rate villains.

The first time he met Izuku Midoriya aka Apotheosis was interesting to say the least. He remembered that alias from some time ago. The supposed genius strategist, his name quickly spread throughout the villain underworld in such a short time. Last he had heard was that some Yakuza big shot in a bird mask was looking for him. Imagine his surprise when it turned out Apotheosis was just some kid that now worked for the League of Villains. As soon as Dabi laid eyes on him he immediately dismissed him as weak. The way he cowered before Shigaraki when the hand man had him pinned to the wall by his throat didn't help his opinion of him either. However the boy was smart, smart enough to placate Shigaraki. That still didn't impress Dabi though and he choose to ignore the kid, until Izuku approached him. He watched as the boy easily disabled Toga with just a few simple moves, but it was when he mentioned hanging out with Stain that Dabi became interested.

During meetings at the league's bar Izuku would talk to him about the hero killer, his ideals and beliefs. Apparently the kid had similar ideals, but believed in different methods. For example he was against killing the fake heroes. Izuku preferred them to live in shame and humiliation, to him it was a greater punishment than to die for misrepresenting the title. He eventually grew curious enough to ask what the boy's quirk was, but to Dabi's surprise he was quirkless. Personally Dabi wasn't a bigot and didn't hold Izuku's quirkless status against him, but being realistic what could he really do with only a smart brain and no power to fall back on.

It wasn't until the attack on the U.A training camp that he got to see how Izuku's intelligence worked out in the field. He was easily able to make that Bakugou kid they were targeting lose his temper and that strange device of his redirected the boy's attack back at his own allies. Dabi didn't see much of Izuku after their first successful mission. Allmight and other heroes raided their base, forced that Sensei guy to reveal himself and then the league went into hiding. Shigaraki called him after the fight, but the green haired genius wouldn't be returning. It was hard to understand the hand man's uncoherent furious rambling, but what Dabi could gleam was that Izuku was going off on his own for now.

Then 'that' day came. Himiko received a call from Izuku and the girl left saying her love needed her. As if Izuku would ever let someone as crazy as her in his pants. Dabi chuckled at the thought. He remember later that Kurogiri and Compress were watching the portable television in their new hideout, keeping an eye on the news to see if the heroes were on their trail. Not that they would allow the media to post something like that if they were. Kurogiri called Shigaraki over when they saw something interesting. Glancing over their shoulder with mild intrigue he noticed a picture of Izuku Midoriya being displayed on screen. Based off what the news was reporting it seems little Izuku outed himself as a villain. That didn't seem right. The boy always kept his identity and involvement with the league secret, so why would he reveal himself to Allmight of all people.

It was then the media played the footage of happened at Geonosis. Quirkless Izuku floating in the air, combating Allmight and blowing away heroes and cars with a simple snap of his fingers. He even thwarted that bastard Endeavor's flames and he made it look so easy. After that he tore down the company's building and escaped. The report also said that Kamui Woods and Edgeshot were badly injured by that very same quirkless boy.

It seemed almost impossible. How did he get so powerful? When did he become so powerful? These were some of the questions that Dabi and the rest of the league wanted to know. Especially Shigaraki with how much the guy kept ranting and raving. Later during the night they were sent a location, some trash covered beach. It was there they got to see some of the kid's power up close. It all came from a device that he wore on his left hand. Pretty obvious and hard not to notice the shiny new gauntlet the kid was sporting.

After that Izuku went into hiding for a little bit, calling on Toga and Dabi for assistance in protecting those stones that powered his gauntlet while they were being made. Toga screwed up, but Dabi was able to accomplish his job, handing what the green haired teen called the power stone over. After seeing how he was able to blow Allmight away he understood why it was called that. He didn't stick around to watch the rest of the fight, but he saw the footage. The whole world saw Izuku expose Allmight's true form. It was amazing, in one fell swoop he shook society's faith in their number one hero.

Pandemonium was the next stage of Izuku's plan. First he supplied villains with his intellect and assistance, then he helped the heroes out by slowing down and thwarting the villains. This just further threw the nation into chaos, creating the perfect opportunity for him to petition the prime minister with a solution.

Izuku was given exactly what he wanted, control over the heroes, the ability and political power to decide who was worthy of the title. The first he passed judgement on was Endeavor. Izuku humiliated and defeated him without lifting a finger, proving that quirks are nothing to his science and intelligence. Dabi got a sick joy watching the footage of that man getting the shit kicked out of him by the kid's robots over and over again.

The green haired gauntlet user didn't waste any time. He built himself a base of operations, passed judgement on three more fake heroes and brought order to society on the brink of chaos with his Titans. Izuku accomplished more than the League of Villains ever did in such a short amount of time as well. Of course Dabi took the offer to join him. He had already proved to be a more competent leader than Shigaraki, so the decision was no brainer.

It was then Izuku dropped another surprise on him. The infamous hero killer Stain was now working for him as some sort of secret inquisitor that brought fake heroes to him to be punished by having their quirks removed. There was more though. Izuku wanted Dabi, Toga and Stain to keep an eye on the villains. He wanted to always know what they were up to so that he could better keep the hero society in his control.

What Dabi didn't expect was for Shoto Todoroki, the son of that monster to be a part of the kid's organization. He also didn't expect his youngest sibling to be nothing like their father. Unlike Endeavor Shoto was willing to change and better himself and therefore become a better hero. He also did what Dabi dreamed of doing when he was a kid and that was tell the old man to shove it. Part of him wanted to tell Shoto the truth and come clean, but he reminded himself that Touya Todoroki was dead and he was Dabi now. Still, he was always curious about what became of his siblings and their mother. He didn't even know what hospital she was in.

Things were changing so fast and Dabi was struggling to keep up. Stain was putting him and the psycho girl through the ringer with his training while Izuku did the same with his three prospective heroes. Stain was incredibly strict and harsh as a teacher. He didn't pull any punches in sparring exercises and didn't waste any time laying Dabi out on the floor then berating him by calling him just a punk with a flashy quirk. Toga didn't struggle as much as he did since she was more accustomed to close range hand to hand combat.

He was starting to feel useless, while watching everyone getting stronger while his progress was nowhere near as extensive as theirs. He voiced this concern just once to Izuku and the boy just chuckled saying that Dabi was already really strong, so of course it his progress would look little in comparison. Even going as far to liken it to leveling up in a video game like Shigaraki used to do. Izuku told him not to worry too much about it, but Dabi wanted to be better, he needed to be stronger. He owed it to Izuku for creating real justice in this society and putting a stop to the fake heroes like Endeavor. He had to help him protect this justice.

PRESENT TIME

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Izuku asked as he followed Dabi into the training room. "These are the same robots that took down Endeavor. You could say they are tailor made to fight people with quirks like yours Dabi"

"You're the one who said the best way to get stronger is to go beyond my limits", the dark haired young man smirked.

"No U.A says that. That plus-ultra thing they keep spouting", the gauntlet user shrugged. "It doesn't apply to people without quirks though. Sadly none of the lessons that school teach apply to the average quirkless person, but the whole going beyond thing is something I can agree with", he looked down at his device as he walked. "After all I went about as plus ultra as I could possibly go thanks to this", entering the large training room Dabi spotted three red Titan robots standing there in the center waiting for him. "Have fun", Izuku turned and with a last wave and left him alone in the chamber.

OBSERVATION ROOM

"So what do you think?" Stain asked, standing in front of large monitor screen that displayed what was currently about to happen in the training room.

"He seems more confident", Izuku stood next him. "He was always a bit cocky before, but he seems more focused along with that. I suppose that's your doing"

"The punk is strong, but if he really pushes himself he'll be even stronger", the hero killer commented. "That's why I suggested he do this"

"Oh so this was your idea", Midoriya looked to his inquisitor with curiosity. "Well this should be interesting then", he reached over and pushed button to activate the robots.

TRAINING ROOM

Dabi stared down the Titans as they suddenly came to life. The three turned their bodies in unison to face him and began stomping towards their target without a moment of hesitation. When they were close they reached out to grab him. That was when Dabi struck the ground between them, creating a wall of blue fire to obstruct the machine's visions. One of the Titan's tore through the flames to find the target was gone.

"Hey metal head!" Dabi called from behind before blasting it with a torrent of flames. He noticed the other two approaching and used his quirk to launch himself away with his other hand. With all three of them close together Dabi unleashed a tidal wave of fire at the machines. The Titans were pushed back at first but soon started marching through the onslaught of heat flames until one of them was standing in front of him.

"Guh!" He was punched hard in the gut by a metal fist, followed by another fist to his face when he was distracted that knocked him off his feet. He tried to get up but the tall menacing robots surrounded him and starting raining blows down on his body.

He tried the same strategy to get some distance, but the machines would always chase him down, push through his fire and beat him down. The repetition of failure was starting piss Dabi off. As the Titans kicked the crap out of him the fire wielder was starting to think that maybe he was weak after all just like his father said.

OBSERVATION ROOM

"Hm, that didn't last long", Izuku commented not sounding all that surprised over the outcome.

"Give him a moment", Stain kept watching.

TRAINING ROOM

'Okay, I've had enough of this shit', Dabi hated feeling weak. When he glanced up at the Titan all he saw was Endeavor looking down on him. "HAAHHH!" With a mighty shout Dabi stood up unleashing an inferno all around him. The robots were momentarily pushed back, but renewed their assault. Only to find their target missing. A whistle caught the first one's attention, its head doing a complete one eighty. Dabi leaped at the machine, hand's covered in blue fire. He grabbed the robot's head and pressed his thumbs into the red glowing eyes. He didn't stop into he saw sparks burst from the holes, telling him that the Titan was blinded now. From what Izuku told him some time ago the quirk detecting scanner was behind the eyes of each robot, so with that now also out of commission it was completely in the dark. It could still hear him, but that wouldn't help it over the sound of roaring flames.

One tried to punch him in the face but he took the hit. Smirking with blood dripping down his face Dabi Created another wall of fire between himself and the mechanical soldiers. With the power of his quirk he sent the fire that surrounded him in every direction creating a storm of flames.

"RAAAAGHHHH!" Dabi roared his lungs out as he blasted the fire proof robots with everything he had. The Titans were pushed back, trying their best to fight through the flames. It looked like a group of three men were trying their hardest to walk through a raging hurricane. The fire user screamed louder as he pushed his quirk passed its limits, turning up the heat and intensity even further. Much to the shock of Izuku who watched from the safety of the observation room the fire resistant armor of the red Titans was starting to melt.

OBSERVATION ROOM

"I think we've seen enough now", Izuku's right hand reached over to the red button on the control panel that said 'Extinguish', that would douse the training room with water. Before he could push it his wrist was quickly grabbed and stopped by the hero killer.

"Not so fast", Stain said as he continued to watch the screen with a smirk. "Who are we to stop him now that his heart is fully in it", Izuku looked at him, but then shrugged and let the inferno continue.

"What's going on?" Izuku turned around at the sudden voice to see Shoto walking through the doors of the observation room.

"Dabi wanted to find his limit and go beyond it", he answered.

"You might want to come see this boy", Stain said without turning around. "This is what it looks like when you give it your all", Todoroki glared at the hero killer, but grew curious to see what Dabi was capable of. The guy was always giving him weird looks during meetings and training sessions. Honestly it was starting to annoy him and Shoto made a mental note to confront him about it in the future.

The three of them continued to watch as Dabi's demonic blue flames slowly melted through the armor of robots. Even the systems that released pressurized air from between the metal plating to further shield them from heat and fire along with the rapid cooling mechanisms were no match for the raging furnace that the patch faced man now wielded and were quickly overloaded. With nothing to protect them from the his quirk the Titans were fried down to their circuitry, even to their very core causing all three of them to explode, leaving nothing but burned piles of scrap.

Dabi eventually calmed down, letting his fire slowly subside. He stood there in the middle of the training room, now nothing more than a giant oven, breathing heavily. His shirt and coat was turned to ash leaving his torso exposed. Izuku and Stained glanced at each other with the younger of the two mouthing the word 'Wow'. Even Shoto was floored by how powerful Dabi's own flame quirk was. It made him wonder if the fire side of his own quirk could have been that powerful had he not neglected it for so long.

"Wait for it", Stain remarked as they observed Dabi suddenly become still, the collapse into unconsciousness. "And there it is. I think I'll take back some of the things I said about this punk now." The hero killer was happy to see his trainee finally cut loose. This organization didn't need half-hearted fools slowing them down.

"Yeah I would if I were you", Izuku just laughed and opened a portal to retrieve the dark cremator, all the while finally deciding on the perfect code name for him.

WOW! I've been gone so long and when I came back over six thousand follows and over six thousand favorites! Thank you! That's definitely going to motivate me into writing more.

Had to scrap the new chapter and start over from square one. It was so bad I couldn't upload it, so I decided to do this Dabi chapter that I've wanted to write for a while now to explain his story and why he's loyal to Izuku now. Yes I know there's new information in the series I do keep up with the manga, but this is the back story that I made up for my story. I just really like Touya/Dabi fan theory and I had to include it.

Let's address some issues. You can skip this if you want.

The whole thing about Kurogiri that recently came up in the manga. His DNA formed the basis for the space stone, so him being a Nomu messes up the bull crap science I made up for the gauntlet and stones to work. However there might be a way I can still make it work, but it will have to wait till the third and final arc of this story.

Another issue I want to address is Izuku's OP intelligence in this story. In the first couple of chapters of this story I tried to imply and illustrate the main difference between this Izuku and canon Izuku. My version instead of doing nothing to become a quirkless hero started studying science, and engineering at a young age. Hence why he had notebooks full of plans for devices and gadgets. He just couldn't build any of them because he lacked the money and resources until he became Apotheosis the villain consultant and started making money illegally. I'll probably do some flashbacks later down the road to better explain this but Izuku being too smart is still one of the popular complaints I get. Kind of the point of the story, but I don't mind the criticism.

Yes there's still grammar and spelling mistakes. I edit the crap out these chapters but I don't catch everything. Trust me I say however bad they seem they look ten times worse before the edits. I would work with another person, but it's just that I have this thing where I prefer to work alone on anything creative I do. I'm more comfortable knowing that any failures or mistakes are my own to make.

I'm not taking any classes this semester so that leaves me more time to write. Which means I'm going to try to get on a schedule where I post a chapter every Sunday. Again no promises, I can't predict the future, but we'll see what happens.

Once again thanks for all the follows and favorites.