Heroes in the Dark: chapter 16

They made their way down the hall. Although Tokoyami hadn't seen much of this place, he knew there wasn't much to it besides the large room they were just in and a few smaller miscellaneous rooms. Of the few rooms they passed in the dingy, whitewashed halls, all the doors were closed off. What lied behind them were of no concern to him, though. At least that's what Kurogiri had told him when they first arrived here. Dabi knocked on a nondescript door at the end of the hall and went for the doorknob before receiving an answer.

"Go away," said a familiar, scratchy voice.

Dabi threw the door wide open. "Too late! I'm already in, can't go back now."

Tokoyami peeked his beak cautiously into the room, not sure what to expect. But there wasn't anything particularly interesting. The room was the same size as his own, small and under furnished. The walls were sparsely covered in pictures of heroes and villains, of recent newspaper articles and clippings. It wasn't as drastic as the walls in the villain hideout and there might've been more of a reason to have this setup, but it still perturbed him. He recognized some of the newspaper articles. A couch and mini fridge sat in the corner. Tomura Shigaraki himself sat at a desk with a laptop. He was impatiently tapping his fingers against the table.

"Fine, what do you want." He looked up from what he was doing to stare down the unwelcome guest, catching sight of Tokoyami. "Or rather, what does he want?"

"Tell him, kid," Dabi said, standing off to the side.

Tokoyami stepped nervously into the room. "I just…wanted to know what happens now? It's, uh, been a while and all I do is stay here training. Did you plan on keeping me here forever?" He thought about how carefully he should be choosing his words, but seeing the villain leader sitting there with an unamused expression evoked something else. It irked him to think that he might not get an adequate answer. "I can't just convieniently stay here, you know. You haven't let me out of this place since we got here, and I'm getting tired of being around Dabi. Where are the others? What are you scheming?"

Dabi let out a small laugh. "Hurtful, but I can relate. Bird Boy has a point, Shigaraki. Just tell him what's up."

Shigaraki growled in annoyance. He gripped the top of his laptop, one finger off, as though contemplating whether or not to slam it shut. He might've rolled his eyes – it was hard to tell with his face concealed behind the crude hand. But he did finally acknowledge them. "I'm in the middle of getting some things straightened out, alright? There's a lot that I need to get figured out before the Villain Alliance can move forward. You already know what we stand to achieve. We encountered some…setbacks-," Shigaraki waved his hand vaguely towards a wall plastered with news articles. "—but I'm getting us back on track. We sacrificed a lot that night, so the others are either off doing their own thing or – I would hope – recruiting new members to aid our efforts."

Shigaraki tapped his fingers on the desk, taking a moment to think. He looked the ex-hero-in-training up and down with his unsympathetic red eyes. "As for you…well, to be honest I still don't know what to do with you. I can't have you running off again. I was foolish to think I could trust a U.A. student training under that All Might to turn to my side so easily. I thought that Bakugou would do well here, but now I'm stuck trying to figure out the cards I've been dealt. I'm not concerned about you trying to be a hero after everything that happened, but it'll be a while before I can trust you to fulfill your new role. Until then, just keep doing what you're doing."

Tokoyami grimaced. He couldn't help but feel a bit miserable at that. "Oh. So I'll continue to be left in the dark."

"This building is lit much better than the last place, if you haven't noticed," Shigaraki said, turning his attention back to his computer.

"You know, you really suck at dealing with kids."

Shigaraki turned his attention back to Dabi, who was standing by with a smug look on his face, arms crossed behind his head. "What do you want from me?"

Dabi took on a more serious air. "How long do you plan on keeping us here? I'm the only one stuck looking after Tokoyami, ya know? This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I decided to join you. Don't get me wrong, it's been an absolute pleasure working with you, but I literally have no confidence that you're taking any of this the right way. You haven't really given me any reason to."

Shigaraki gave pause, taking a moment to think those words over while scratching at his neck, which looked even more raw and torn up than usual. "I just need something to happen," he rasped quietly. In the end he did shut the lid of his laptop, and then proceeded to remove the hand that covered his face. His eyes were tired, but his face was still a mask of bitterness. "Don't feel like you're obligated to stay here, Dabi. So long as the kid is in check, you can do what you want. I'd prefer if you'd stay here now that everyone else is gone, but admittedly that's my own fault for not organizing properly. I'll gather the Alliance back together soon. Until then, far be it me to stop you. I'm surprised you stuck around as long as you did, honestly."

"So am I." He glanced over at Tokoyami, who had backed away, head trained towards the ground and hands securely in his pockets. "'Kay, great talk. I'm taking a break from all this. But you already knew that. Try and get someone else back here if you can. And word of warning, the kid can hit really hard if he wants to."

Shigaraki stifled a yawn. "Dully noted. Just make sure he gets back to his room and secure him before going off."

"Sounds good. Nighty-night, Hand-Man." Dabi jerked his head towards the door, and Tokoyami exited the room with him close behind. They shut the door just as Shigaraki groaned in disgust, leaving the frustrated villain back to his own devices.

"So, did you get what you wanted out of that?"

Tokoyami looked back at the closed door, wondering if Shigaraki could still hear them. "Not…really. His answers were all rather evasive. After all that, the only concrete info to come out of it is the fact that you can leave. My own fate is just as enshadowed as before"

"I think he just wants me off his back. All I've been doing since we got here is alternating between taking care of you and pestering him. Not the worst combination for me personally, but still. You may not have gotten what you wanted, but I sure did. I think I'll take a walk, maybe go into town."

Tokoyami turned on his heels and began heading in the direction of his own room. But Dabi intercepted him. "Hey, going back so soon? Don't sweat it so much."

The student couldn't tell if he was teasing him or not. "There's nothing left for me today, yes? Your training wrapped up so quickly. So now it's back to my room."

"Nah, I don't think so. Let's go. He said he didn't mind me leaving, after all. Why don't we check out the area outside these walls."

Shigaraki also said to have me in my room.

You say that like you're disappointed! Dark Shadow cackled internally.

Tokoyami smiled as he followed Dabi down a different hallway. Don't be ridiculous.

This hallway ended in a heavy steel door locked with a password. He inputted some numbers, shielding it with his hand, and reached for the door handle. "Try making a run for it and I'll kill ya."

"You can try," Tokoyami shot back without hesitation, watching as the door opened to the outside. "I'm starting to think you probably could've left whenever you wanted and Shigaraki would be none the wiser."

"Well, sure, but I wouldn't want to be irresponsible."

"You say as you freely let me out of this place."

"Hey! Only for a bit, you got it? And then I'm hauling your tailfeathers back into here. Besides, we could all use a break."

Natural sunlight streamed in through the now open door, causing him to squint. Even though he was standing here now, he still couldn't quite believe it. It could still be part of a prank. Any moment he would shut the door and lock him back into that little room.

But that didn't happen. Dabi walked up a set of concrete stairs, coming to a standstill where the sparsely forested land met the edge of the facility. Tokoyami hadn't even considered that the building would be underground, but if this place was designed with emergencies in mind then it made sense. He joined Dabi at the top of the stairs. "Where is this place. It's not like the last forest." Sure enough, the trees were different, less diverse, and the ground wasn't so densely covered in foliage. Cold sunshine streamed down freely from the many openings between the branches, dappling the ground. It was morning.

"Can't really say, but it's kinda neat out here if you ask me."

Tokoyami sat himself at the base of a tree, sighing with content at the change of atmosphere. It was a small comfort, sure, but being able to smell the fresh air and feel natural ground was a welcome change. His beak drooped until it was resting comfortably on his chest. This is nice.

"I bother bringing you out here and the only thing you want to do is take a nap? That's not very exciting," Dabi scoffed, leaning against a tree himself.

Tokoyami looked over at the heavily scarred man. He didn't seem like the kind that would care about much of anything. "So then what made you decide to bring me out here?"

"Hm? Eh, no reason. Just felt like it. I can't imagine it's very fun being cooped up like that. Heavens forbid you hate your kidnappers or something." Tokoyami didn't respond, crossing his arms solemnly over his knees. Dabi sighed. "Hey, just don't worry about it too much. You're better off here. The rest of the world can be really judgmental, and it's difficult out there. Especially for you younger ones that have so many expectations placed on you. I have siblings, if you really want to know, that kinda remind me of you. I can't very well go see them whenever I want because of the position I'm in…but that's not important. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that you should just see where everything takes you. It might not be what you envisioned, but you deserve to learn every point of view and…nah, I don't know where I'm going with this. Hey, you're still awake, right?"

Tokoyami indeed was, but gave no visible indication that he was listening despite hanging onto every word. The villain had been quick to move on from discussing family, but at the same time this was the first time any of the villains had even hinted at their life before this. It intrigued him to know that Dabi of all people still thought about stuff like that. I wonder what these siblings are like, if he claims that I remind him of them. That's hardly something I can just ask about, though.

"Ah, to hell with you," Dabi grumbled, sitting down on the forest floor. "Great, now I'm stuck watching over you like this. I swear, my replacement better come soon. Do I even get paid for this shit? I need to talk to Shiggs again. But wait, I'm not even supposed to have the kid out here…"

Then you can just keep sitting here, Tokoyami thought.

Kukuku, who knew he could be even remotely reliable, Dark Shadow hummed.

Tokoyami wasn't sure he was ready to believe that. At some point, though, he might've actually dozed off listening to the villain talk about mundane things. Apparently he trusted him enough to relax in his presence, if that made any difference. Even still, he was a villain just like all the others. Tokoyami couldn't forget that.