A/N: Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of suicide. Proceed with caution.

Chapter 63

"You're not my friend, you're just some chubby kid my mom forced me to play with and nothing else."

"You're such a jerk! Why are you acting like last month didn't happen?"

"What happened? I kissed you to shut you up, because I felt sorry for how desperate you were. There was nothing more to it. Now beat it, I've got training to do, and a Quirkless loser like you wouldn't understand."

"Stop it, Touya!" her eyes watered when he turned away from her, preparing his trek up the mountain. "Say what you want," her voice shook as she looked up at him. "But you'll always be a hero in my eyes!"

The ache in his head is something unbearable when he begins to come to. It takes Dabi a moment to open his eyes and take in his surroundings, wishing that he could remain unconscious for all eternity.

From what he can gather, he's in a bed—a damn comfortable one at that. Light peaks in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and when he finally gathers the strength to open his eyes, he can see the view of the city blurrily coming into his vision past stray strands of unruly white hair.

Dabi tries to piece together what he last remembered, and it felt like decades had gone by since he last opened his eyes from this dreamless sleep. He wracks his mind until he remembers Toga and the look in her wet bloodshot eyes as she cried to him about not wanting to be a martyr.

He felt like shit when he heard the cracking in her voice at that admission and he cringes for how offhandedly he had responded to her. She's just a child, and shouldn't be dragged into this fight, shouldn't be punished by the heroes for not conforming to their fucked-up ideals. Even though he's willing to die in his conviction doesn't mean that she deserves the same fate. He wished he had told her that when she cried to him. Maybe he will remember to tell her that now.

Dabi figures that after passing out—probably from the festering of his unchecked wounds—Toga managed to drag his limp ass to the bed and let him rest. He isn't sure how long he's been unconscious for, but he hopes it wasn't too long for her to go into a panic.

A heavy groan lifts from his chest as he attempts to move his body. His head is aching like he's drank his weight in Sake, but surprisingly his body doesn't pull taut at the staples like they normally do.

He manages to lift his hand up to his face, rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand to expel the sleep that cakes between his lashes. A flash of panic strikes his chest, reminding him that he shouldn't rub his eyes like that for fear of damaging his staples. How long has he been knocked out that he's forgotten how he can and cannot touch his own body?

But to his shock once more, Dabi doesn't feel any pain under his eyes. There is no tugging or pulling of staples and skin. Dabi's brows furrow together in confusion when he lifts his hands up to his face. He turns his palms towards his vision and blinks at the sight staring back at him.

He blinks again.

And again.

And another time just to make sure what's staring back at him isn't some fucked-up illusion caused by his extended involuntary nap.

Dabi twists his wrists back and forth a few times as he examines his hands and forearms. He even clenches and unclenches his fists to make sure that he's in control of these hands. Dabi pulls at the white covers that lay atop his body and follows the arms up to his chest. Panic once more strikes his chest, but now for a different reason.

Staring back at him—attached to him—are two completely unmarred arms. There is no trace of blotching purple skin or an uneven array of silver medical staples holding together dying and undying skin. His hand drops to his chest and there are no signs of his horrid appearance there either. He's greeted by soft ivory skin completely untouched by his Quirk.

Dabi springs out of the bed he was just cemented to, frantically tossing the covers off the bed and making a beeline towards the attached bathroom. His chest rises and falls with shallow breaths that are unable to escape his lungs properly. When he reaches the vanity, he clutches onto the marble as he tries to regain his ragged breaths. His hands shake, lifting to his face as they rake through the tangled strands of white hairs that fall in front of his eyes.

He doesn't want to look in the mirror at first. He's trying not to hype himself up in any way. This is all a dream. It's all an illusion cast by his mind for being knocked out for so long. He is going to lift his eyes to the mirror, and he is going to be greeted by that same ugly fucking face that he's lived with for ten years.

That's all. Anything else would be…

But when his eyes finally do reach the reflection staring back at him, Dabi doesn't know how to respond. Something in his body drops into the pits of his stomach as he stares at the stranger in the mirror. He's shirtless, wearing only black boxer briefs, so he has a full view of his body.

His eyes are lying to him. This is someone's Quirk fucking with him. Any other explanation filters through his head before he finally processes that he's looking at himself, unmarred, scarless, free of any markings, stain, or imperfection that has disfigured him for the majority of his life.

He doesn't recognize himself, and yet, he does. The shape of his face remains the same, his eyes and hair all the same. He's just clear… and free of his scars and staples. The pads of his fingertips kiss the soft skin under his eyelids, and he can feel his subtle touch. He retracks his fingers so quickly as if he were being burned.

Waves of nausea and something Dabi is unfamiliar with crashes into him, making him feel unstable on his feet. He staggers away from the mirror and stumbles out of the bathroom. He hangs onto the walls of the apartment as he makes his way around the room when he finally takes notice of his surroundings.

The apartment is more of an executive suite, immaculate and sleek in design and unlike the one he was with Toga in, it's clean and untouched by Gigantomachia's rampage. And when the thought crosses his mind, Dabi turns to the floor-to-ceiling windows to confirm that everything is untouched by Gigantomachia's rampage.

"What the fuck is going on?" Dabi groans with a voice that doesn't even sound like his own. A strong and masculine voice, rough with sleep but not destroyed from years of smoke inhalation.

As if in answer, Dabi hears something banging in the other room. He perks his attention towards the closed door that acts as a barrier to the sound. He quickly ignites his left palm, feeling relief flow through him that he didn't wake up in some dystopian Quirkless reality.

He opens the door to show the remainder of a massive suite sparing no expense in its decadence. The open floorplan reveals the living area, kitchen, and entryway, all more massive than any home he's ever been in. The television is playing quietly in the empty living area. He takes a step towards the screen when his attention is brough back to the kitchen where another crash is heard behind the island.

"Fuck!"

The voice is unmistakable as it rings throughout the open space. Dabi's body tenses and freezes because it's the voice that he's been trying to replicate in his mind for months now. The voice that haunts him in his dreams and the one that he desperately tried to return to.

A purple head of hair pops up from behind the kitchen island, holding a saucepan up triumphantly. Her smile quickly fades when her lilac eyes reach his from across the room.

Her gaze quickly diverts from his, her shoulders dropping, and any excitement she had from successfully retrieving the saucepan is stripped from her body language as she turns from him. "Didn't expect you to stay the night. Figured I'd make you something to eat." Her tone is flat and monotoned. It's something that Dabi is not used to hearing from her. Her voice lifts an octave when she sees him to express her excitement when he's around, but here, she sounds bothered to have him in her presence—practically indifferent to him.

Dabi takes a shaky step towards her, carefully and slowly approaching her so not to come up on her so quickly that the image of her would dissipate. Her hair is long as it sweeps the small of her back, even tied back in a high ponytail. But his eyes land quickly on her nape and back as she's turned away from him. Her light skin is untarnished by his Quirk with no signs of burns or scarring that he last left her in.

Dabi figures this is a dream. Naturally, the fact that he isn't some walking stitched up Frankenstein was a dead giveaway, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that this isn't his reality. He thinks back right before he opened his eyes this morning. He heard their last conversation with one another when they were children, but it was different from what he knows. Could this be a reality that could have been, had she told him he was her hero instead? If so, how did he get here, and what else is different about this world?

He watches her from behind, enjoying the view of her in leisure wear doting over a stove as she makes him something to eat. He misses these days in the League when he used to watch her move about the kitchen without a care in the world while she made him something to eat. He took those moments for granted, and wishes that he could go back to them and tell her how much they meant to him. Maybe this is his chance.

Dabi moves towards her with an outreached hand as his fingers itch to trace her skin and tangle themselves in her hair. She backs into him, immediately tensing up at their bodies crashing into one another. "It'll be finished soon," she murmurs under her breath as her eyes dart towards the floor.

He doesn't care about the food, and though it smells damn good, all he wants is her. He reaches for her face, cupping the cheek that he had burned the last time his hand was holding her. Her eyes refuse to reach his, and he takes his other hand to cup her other cheek. He turns his head to the side in an attempt to get her to look at him, and when she continues to avoid his gaze, he commands, "Look at me."

Her lilac eyes reach his and he feels like his heart has short circuited. Despite how she's making him feel in this moment, he can't ignore the look in her eyes and the positioning in her body. She isn't shying away from him like she did back when he kidnapped her, or how his mother would crawl into her own skin when his father laid his hands on her. She instead looks deflated and irritated as a subtle roll of her eyes accompanies her turn to him.

"I missed you," is all he can stupidly say when her eyes are on his this closely.

A wry disbelieving lift of her lips accompanies his words. "That so?" her tone shows the same dryness in her expression as she pulls her head from his grip and returns to tending to the food.

Dabi feels an annoyance bubbling in his chest as the urge to shake her and return her to something he recognizes takes over him. "Yeah, it is," he challenges her. "I fucking burned down all of Japan to get you back!"

She halfheartedly glances over her shoulder at the windows in the living area, seeing the city unsullied by flames. She nods once, giving an unenthusiastic hum of a response. "So that explains why you came home at four in the morning last night, reeking of alcohol, and expelling your guts on the floor over there for me to clean up?" she says lazily pointing over her shoulder with her spatula.

Dabi just blinks at her tone, hearing the disdain and annoyance spilling out of it. "Speaking of," she continues, "You still smell like a Sake House, so you should probably wash up before going into work."

Dabi pauses for a moment as he tries to piece together what is going on. Clearly, he is not in a reality that he knows since he's unscathed by his Quirk. He needs to focus his efforts on prying information out of her and gather his bearings to understand what is going on.

"I doubt Shigaraki and the League are going to give a fuck about what I smell like," he says as he watches her reaction.

Her head turns over her shoulder, nose crinkling with confusion, "Who?"

Dabi exhales. So, the League doesn't exist here? Does that mean none of them exist in this world?

"Who was I with last night?" he asks her.

She snorts at this with an incredulous shake of her head, clearly striking a sore spot with her. She doesn't answer him and Dabi rolls his eyes. He's not the type to tiptoe around this shit, and he doesn't know how long he has in this reality with her. He crosses the kitchen towards her, reaching for her hand that holds the spatula. His thumb plays with the diamond on her finger, not as large as the one that he got her, but still a sizable option.

"You're my wife," he says as a statement, affirming that she is in this reality and any other that exists.

Her jaw tenses and she turns her face from him but he snatches her by the chin and forces her to look at him. The pad of his thumb brushes against her plump lips and it sends a shiver of need down his spine. He doesn't give her a moment of protest before he's crashing his lips against her own. She moans her objection, but he pries open her lips instead, invading the inside of her mouth with his tongue.

Immediately he's wracked with butterflies flying frantically in his chest. He's missed her lips on his for so long, and despite how many times he forced an image of her in his mind all those lonely nights he spent thinking of her, this is real and tangible… or at least it feels that way.

Dabi reaches down for her legs, grabbing them and lifting her off of her feet. He crashes her ass against the countertops, prying them open and closing the gap with his hips. The sound of the spatula crashing against the floor rings out as his hands frantically devour every part of her body.

He turns his head to the side, forcing the kiss deeper as her hands finally reach up to welcome his touch. She combs her fingers through his white strands and he groans in her mouth with approval as she tugs on them lightly.

He bucks his hips against her parted legs to show her just how hard he's getting for her. She moans in response to the feeling.

The sound of a ringing phone cuts through their moans and heavy breathing. Asami opens her eyes, trying to turn her head towards the phone, but he won't allow her lips to leave his own.

She groans out as her hand reaches for his jaw to pry him off of her mouth, "Touya," she breathes out heavily.

"Fuck, I missed my name on your lips," Dabi responds ravenously as his lips replace her mouth with her neck.

She attempts to reach for the phone, but Dabi's greedy hands are all over her. "Touya, it's the agency," she presses him. "You're already late," she tries to get to him.

"What agency?" he halfheartedly asks, because his mind is more focused on devouring her than anything she's saying.

But his hearing does catch the sound of the broadcast behind them when the news anchor states, "With the fall of All Might, this year's Billboard Charts will find a different Number One spot take the mantle. And despite his years of service, it's speculated that Endeavor will not be taking that spot."

Dabi can't help himself at the mention of his father and his turquoise eyes lift to the TV to see a serious photo of the flame hero displayed on the screen. A smile reaches his lips as he continues to kiss her neck as he sees that his father still struggles in this reality to reach his goal of Number One. That brings a renewed wave of joy to his chest, and he turns his attention back on Asami as he tangles his fingers in the baby hairs behind her ear.

"The numbers are still coming in, so nothing's been confirmed," the female reporter picks up. "But industry professionals are forecasting a new Number One that may not come as a shock to any of you."

"Yes, after the takedown of Hero Killer: Stain and his assistance in imprisoning supervillain All For One," the male broadcaster continues, "Current Number Three Hero, Challenger is projected to overtake his father Endeavor for the Number One Hero slot."

Dabi's lips freeze on Asami's neck and he shoots his head up towards the television.

That name.

It was something that he came up with after Shouto's Quirk manifested. It was a hero name that he created after a particularly terrible argument with his father who said that he would never be a hero with the challenge of his body's composition. He created the name to show his father that he would take on the challenge and that he would challenge anyone or anything that kept him from becoming a hero. He never told his father that he chose a hero name. He never told Fuyumi, or his mother, or Natsuo. Not even Asami. He was going to announce it when he entered UA.

Dabi's eyes are fixated on the screen as the image of a smiling hero looks back at him. His shoulders drop and his lips part as he's entranced by the sight of himself staring back at him. Flashes of various images taken of him are displayed on the screen. Him in his hero suit taking down the Hero Killer, him propelling in the sky as a string of blue flames follow behind, him smiling with fans and posing for photo ops with a peace sign on his fingers, and him standing as a barrier in front of All Might as the last of his strength is depleted by All For One.

Dabi is a hero. Not just any hero, but the soon to be Number One Hero of Japan.

He feels himself getting lightheaded as he turns to Asami who has shimmied off of the kitchen island with the ringing phone in her hand. "It's the agency," she tells him in a distanced tone once more. "I'm guessing they were trying to get the news to you before you heard the announcement," she says handing him the phone. "Congrats," her tone is anything but congratulatory as she turns from him and towards the burning food on the stove and scraping it into the trashcan.

He turns towards her, preparing himself to say something to her when frantic knocking at the suite door fills the space in the room. He growls under his breath, preparing to speak over the disturbance when a disembodied voice excitedly calls out over the other side of the door. "Hey, yo, Touya! I know you're in there! Open up!"

The voice has Dabi stopping dead in his tracks, eyes wide and chest twisting with unease. He doesn't notice Asami turn to open the door, and he doesn't notice the blonde man enter the home until his body is crashing into his in a tight embrace. "I knew you were gonna be Number One, my man! You've always had it in you! Never had my doubts! Well, okay maybe once!"

Dabi is frozen in his grip in a panic for a moment, before he is finally released from his hold and can look onto his face, confirming what he thought.

"Twice?" his shaky voice releases as the blonde skips out from in front of him and into the kitchen.

"Ah what's with the waste of food?" he happily calls out to Asami.

"It was burned," she deadpans to him.

"Well, get a new batch going! We got the Number One Hero of Japan here with a hefty hero's appetite to satiate!" he happily claps Dabi's back, making him cough out uncomfortably.

"The agency has been calling him nonstop this morning," Asami begins. "Why don't you get something on the way?" she suggests.

"Wait," Dabi snaps, "Hold on," he steps towards Asami. "I'm not going to leave you," he tells her. He's just finally gotten her back, and regardless of whatever reality he's living in right now, he can't lose her again.

Asami seems confused by his comment and brushes him off, before he can press her more on the matter, Twice wraps his arm around his shoulder and tugs him into a tight hug. "I'll make sure I get him there; nice n' safe!" the blonde announces to the woman as she focuses on cleaning the kitchen.

Dabi doesn't fight when he sees just how disinterested Asami is with his presence there, and after throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, he leaves with Twice. They begin walking and Dabi notices that they are in the business district of Kamino. The city is completely unscathed by the fight that occurred between All Might and All For One, as well as being cleaner than Dabi's ever seen it.

Kamino has always been a red-light-district-type of city where all the worst members of Japan's society came to play out their vices. It was one of the reasons that the League was able to lay low for so long there. But now, the city is clean, with buildings filled with operating businesses, and everyday civilians walking the streets without a care in the world.

"Not to be rude, but you smell like a Sake House," Twice tells him with a wrinkle in his nose like Asami. He lets go of him from his one-armed hug. "No worries, we can get you cleaned up at the agency."

Dabi doesn't say anything to him as he's still in a stake of shock at what is going on around him. He still can't wrap his mind around Twice being here and alive.

"Thanks for lending me the apartment last night," Twice pats him on the shoulder. "That girl at the club was just as wild as you said she'd be," he tells him with a wink.

Dabi stares at his blonde friend, not only surprised that he isn't dead, but also doesn't have a scar running down his forehead. How does what Asami said to them when they were kids have any downstream impact on how Twice's life turned out? Or how Kamino suddenly became a desired suburb?

"Sorry you had to spend the night with the ol' ball n' chain," Twice laughs as he happily strolls next to Dabi. "Hope she didn't give you too much of an earful last night."

"Alright, what the fuck is going on?" Dabi says now, halting his stride and turning to the blonde. He's had enough of being in the dark about what his relationship is with Asami and what type of life he's living.

Twice blinks at him, shocked at his abrasiveness. "Whadaya mean?"

"The 'ball n' chain', this city, her snarky ass comments back there," he lists out. "What the hell is going on in this reality?"

Twice looks over at his friend with a dumbfounded look. "I'm not sure I'm following…" he lingers.

Dabi sighs, already exhausted with this world. "Imagine that I am from an alternate dimension where I have no clue what is happening. I need you to tell me everything about this world."

"Ugh, I don't know man," Twice scratches at the back of his head. "You're Touya. The current Number Three Hero, but you're set to become Number One after that epic battle against All For One and All Might."

"What happened in that?" Dabi presses him.

Twice begins to take Dabi more seriously, seeing the look in his eyes that he is not kidding around. "Are you feeling alright, dude? Did you hit your head last night or something?"

"Humor me," Dabi presses him.

"Umm, okay?" he continues visibly confused. "Kamino is your district, so you were one of the first on the scene. You teamed up with All Might and took All For One down. He's been in Tartarus ever since. It's probably because of you that the city didn't get any damage to it."

Dabi's head swirls with so many questions at how this world has panned out. He's a hero; a ranking hero, and teaming up with All Might of all people to take down All For One. He's turned Kamino around from being a shithole to being some prosperous part of the city.

"What about you?" Dabi asks. "You were some lowlife with no friends."

"Ouch!" Twice reaches for his chest, but it's clear in his tone that he's being playful. "This is the thanks I get for being your sidekick for five years?"

"Sidekick?" Dabi almost wants to laugh at that. "Why the hell would I make you my sidekick?"

"I knew it!" Twice playfully jumps in front of him. "I knew Tenko was your favorite sidekick! Ah man! I'm gonna owe him so much money now!"

"Who the fuck is Tenko?"

"Wow, you really did hit your head," Twice says lifting his hand to examine Dabi.

Dabi swats his hand away. "What about her?" he asks. "My wife?"

"Asami? What about her?" he shrugs his shoulders.

"Why does she look at me like she's disgusted with me?"

Twice puts his hands up in surrender, "Hey man, that's between the two of you."

It isn't long until Twice stops walking in front of a massive skyscraper. Dabi looks up at the enormous building that they stand in front of. Soon, they are bombarded by adoring fans. Immediately, Twice jumps in to take photos and sign autographs from all the civilians that shove copies of photos of them.

Dabi is practically blinded by the sheer amount of flashing white lights in his face and is frozen in the horde of adoring fans that call out his hidden hero name. After a moment of trying to gain his wits about him, Dabi grabs one of the pens thrown in his face and begins signing anything in front of him. He looks like a deer in headlights at this intrusion, and even as a child, Dabi never prepared himself for this level of fame.

After a few moments of this, Twice assists a shellshocked Dabi into the building. Once inside, he's struck by the sight of opulence to the extreme. The building is sleek and modern in design with marble and gold accents, sparing no expense to give off the appearance of wealth. Various capital Cs mark the furniture, flooring, and stationary all around him.

He's instantly greeted by a gorgeous secretary whose eyes linger on him for a bit too long before Twice skirts him off to the elevator. He presses the C on the elevator to the top floor. Even the fucking floor number is named after him.

They don't speak to one another in the elevator, and when they reach the C floor, Twice slides out of the elevator with hands dug deeply in his pockets. He winks at another gorgeous secretary waiting at a desk in front of two frosted glass doors with a large decal that says "Challenger" on it.

The blonde pushes through one of the doors with his shoulder and allows Dabi to take the lead inside. He steps in to find two desks in a large room leading to another set of glass doors. One desk is empty, while the other has a set of two feet propped up on it from someone leaning back in their chair.

"Tenko, I owe you lunch," Twice begins with a layer of dread in his tone. "This asshole decided to break my heart this morning and tell me you're his favorite," Twice points back at Dabi with his thumb.

"Well, I have been telling you this for years, so you shouldn't be surprised." The voice is scratchy and rough, causing Dabi to freeze in his tracks. He focuses more on the man leaning back at his desk to see his long light blue hair and pale skin peaking through a different outfit than what he normally wears. He's leisurely playing a game on his handheld and doesn't give Dabi a second glance.

"Shigaraki?" Dabi questions with a disbelieving tone.

Shigaraki puts his handheld down only enough to peak a ruby eye at him with a quirked-up eyebrow.

"Oh yeah," Twice begins, "He hit his head last night or something and doesn't remember anything. He's been calling me by my hero name this whole time and asking weird questions all morning."

Shigaraki places the handheld back in front of his field of vision and immerses himself back into his game. "Not sure who Shigaraki is," he grumbles under his breath. "Name's Tenko, dumbass."

"Where is Spinner?" Dabi questions them. "Or Mr. Compress? Or Toga?"

Shigaraki glances over at Twice for an explanation at Dabi's question. "He said he's from another reality," Twice explains.

"Do you need to go to the hospital or something?" Shigaraki questions him.

Dabi figures that both of them are working for his agency seeing as how there are only two desks for his sidekicks. He's reeling at the idea that Shigaraki of all people is his sidekick in this reality and wonders how he managed to get the manchild to work for him. He notices that Shigaraki's skin is not as dry and peeling as it normally is, and figures that in this reality, he probably got better training for handling his Quirk like Dabi must have.

"I need a minute alone," Dabi mumbles under his breath. He leaves the two of them to push past the double doors behind their desks, revealing a larger office with a single desk situated in the middle of the room. His eyes widen at the floor-to-ceiling windows that give him a perfect view of the city below him. From here, he can see every street and every citizen within his district. Off in the distance, he can barely see the skyscraper of his father's agency in Hozu cutting the skyline.

Dabi turns from the window and to his desk. He finds various stationary with his name on it, some incoherent notes spread across his desk, and a copy of Destro's Meta Liberation Army book. He scoffs at the sight of the snoozefest of a book and the idiot of a man behind the organization. He wonders what type of threat—if at all—they pose in this reality. With Shigaraki as his sidekick, he doesn't worry about them in the slightest.

He sinks into his desk, pressing his hand to the temples of his forehead as he tries to decompress from all the information that hit him today. He has no idea how he got into this reality, or how he can return to the one that he's from. He's not even sure if he wants to return to that life… not when he has everything that he's ever wanted in this one. He leans back in his chair with a groan.

"Dabi?"

The familiar voice bounces around in his head with an echo that itches at his skull. Immediately, his eyes are bulging and he's frantically looking around the room. "Toga?" he questions, hands gripping onto the arms of his chair.

Instead, he's greeted by a blue-haired woman standing next to his desk. He doesn't recognize her and the idea of Toga's voice playing in his head is quickly overshadowed when the woman standing before him makes her move.

She is scantily clad to say the least; wearing clothes that put Asami's tight little outfits to shame. The collar of her blouse is cut far too low, her skirt laying pretty high atop her thighs, and her heels click against the floor of his office before she places herself between his spread-out legs.

Dabi stiffens, straightening his back in his chair before she lunges for him. Her hands are all over him, clawing at his clothes while her lips reach his. She forces her lips onto his, and Dabi is stuck frozen at her unseen advancement. She lets out loud performative moans that bring him back to regaining some sense of control over the situation.

"You smell like shit, where were you last night?" she grumbles between heated kisses.

He turns his head and pries his lips off hers, but this doesn't deter her as she separates her legs, revealing the lack of underwear as she straddles him, causing his chair to creak out at the change in weight.

"The fuck are you doing?" Dabi grunts out as her lips move down his cheek and onto his neck.

She moans against his pulse point, "Who's Toga?" she teases him with a voice of a vixen. "Someone I should be worried about?" she releases a breathy laugh between kisses.

Dabi's eyes flare with hatred, and the villain inside him comes out. He snatches her throat with a motion so quick that he surprises even himself. Her eyes widen and she looks down at him with fearful eyes. The sheer force of his hand around her neck is anything but playful, and his eyes clearly convey that he isn't fucking around.

"…ouya…'re hur…ng …e!" she struggles under his intense grip.

Before Dabi can react to her frantic response, the door to his office opens once more. His bright turquoise eyes blink over towards the intruder in the room only to blink once more in shock. He's returned by the two-toned stare of his father's masterpiece.

"Sorry man," Twice quickly runs in behind Shouto. "I told him to give ya a minute."

Shouto's face stiffens at the sight of his brother leaning back in his hero's chair with his hand wrapped around the neck of a woman straddling him. He coaches his facial expressions to show little interest in his brother's clear infidelity as he says, "I'm here for my Pro Hero Internship," he begins with a voice seeded with disdain that's poorly masked with professionalism. "If that's not something you're willing to take seriously, I can withdraw my acceptance and transfer to father's agency."

Dabi's throat seizes up at the sight of Shouto in this reality. The scar on his eye remains as a testament that their family is still fucked up in this world.

Dabi's hand releases the neck of the woman on him and she quickly shimmies off of him with her head down in shame as she adjusts her skirt. The sounds of her sniffled cries ring out as the loudest sound in the room that has gone uncomfortably still as the two Todoroki brothers glare onto one another.

Dabi lifts himself from his chair and looks onto his little brother. His heart is racing, having last seen him frantic and panicked at the idea that his dear older brother came back from the dead. Back then, he announced himself as a serial murderer, he told him that he killed Asami, and promised that he was going to kill him and their father next. And despite all that, it is here that he's looking at him as if he's the most vile thing in this world.

"Clear my calendar," his voice is directed to no one in particular. "And you," he points to the blue-haired girl. "You're fired," his voice is flat and emotionless as his bright eyes find Shouto's and wordlessly directs him out of the room.

Shouto takes the lead as Dabi follows behind him. They wordlessly leave the building; Shouto watching his brother carefully as the pro hero fumbles at the sight of hoards of adoring fans clamoring to get a photo with him.

"The old man ever teach you how to blast yourself with your flames?" Dabi questions him over his shoulder.

"I prefer to use my Ice as it's safer around civilians," Shouto responds flatly.

Dabi rolls his eyes, "Ever the valiant one," he mumbles to himself. "Keep up then," he instructs him as he blasts himself into the air with his blue flames, causing the hoards of fans to gasp at the sheer heat he's releasing. The white-haired hero looks back to see if his younger brother is keeping up with him, only to be shocked by the sight of him beating him.

Dabi sneers and kicks up the heat, launching himself in front of his brother and taking the lead. He brings him to the warehouse where he would meet with Hawks to discuss his conditions to join the League. Dabi wonders where Hawks is in this reality. Is he the same shit faced hero that he is in his reality? The idea that he's some street rat slumming it up in some alleyway somewhere crosses his mind an brings a smile to his face.

Shouto lands gracefully next to his brother as his head turns back and forth to take in the area his brother led him to. Dabi's hand itches to reach out to the little masterpiece and burn his face to an unrecognizable heap of melted flesh, but he refrains for a moment.

"You're in your hero studies," Dabi begins, "And you chose to intern under me instead of the old man," he says more as a statement, unable to find the words to the question he wants to ask.

"I'm beginning to question the decision myself," Shouto responds with malice in his tone.

Dabi scoffs at him and Shouto turns with shock in his eyes. "I thought you were wanting to be a hero different than him. Yet I can see that you are just like him."

Dabi's fists clench at his sides, and it takes everything in his power not to char his little brother where he stands. "Don't fucking compare me to that monster," he threatens him with flaring nostrils.

"Asami told me about the infidelity, but assured me that you never put your hands on her with violence. Clearly you have another woman for that."

Dabi steps forward, a pointed finger in Shouto's face readying himself for a violent retort, but he stops; settling himself down at the idea that he's not only cheating on Asami in this world, but that she's aware of it no less.

Shouto turns away from him with a disapproving shake of his head.

"Dabi, can you hear me?"

Dabi's body goes rigid at the sound of Toga's voice calling out to him. He opens his mouth to call out to her when Shouto's words bring him back. "I chose to intern with you because I wanted to learn from you," he says and Dabi turns his eyes towards him. Shouto's eyes remain on the building as he thinks back on their childhood.

"Father kept you far away from me," he reminisces. "After that night on Sekoto Peak when you showed father your ultimate move, I was discarded in his eyes. I understood in that instant what you had felt when I was born. I thought a part of you would remember what that felt like when you became a hero for yourself."

Dabi's eyes fall downward as he tries to scramble his brain for any memories in this world. All his memories are back in a reality where he was the discarded one in his father's eyes and died on that peak. He attempts to find some semblance of this world, but he is drawing a blank. Nothing in this world is what he expected. He's a pro hero, set to become the Number One Hero of Japan, married to his childhood sweetheart, living in a lavished home with an agency and sidekicks of his own. He's better than Shouto. He won. He is the masterpiece in this world. And yet he still managed to fuck it up. Like he always does.

But he has a chance to change it.

Looking at Shouto now, he has a chance—not to kill him, but to be something to him. He didn't die on that hill and curse Shouto to a life of beatings and neglect like he had been. In this reality, Touya was someone that Shouto looked up to and wanted to emulate. He is not some cautionary tale of what could happen if you're not careful.

Dabi's eyes turn to his brothers and for the first time, he looks at the boy, not as a masterpiece and not as some product of his father's insanity to replace him.

He's just a kid… who wants to get to know his big brother.

Something coils around Dabi's chest and he feels himself getting sick. His declaration of killing Shouto to punish Endeavor rings in his ears. He wanted to kill Asami as well. He thought that he did, and when he realized that she was alive, he never felt more relieved in his life. Dabi doesn't know now what to do with that information as he looks at his brother now. He could kill him here with a flick of a wrist. He could get all the revenge and vengeance that he has been seeking for the last decade of his life in this instant, so then why can't he make a move?

"Solar Flare," Shouto begins.

"My power move?" Dabi chokes out as the memory of that night plays out in his head once again. How was that night different in this reality? It was that night that cemented everything in his life.

"You use your flames as an explosive burst of fire that engulfs the target with a single eruption from your body," Shouto explains and Dabi responds by looking down at his arms that show nothing but undamaged ivory skin.

Could things have been this different if they just cared for him a little more than they did?

"It can be used as a stun technique, or to vaporize a target altogether and burns a hundred times hotter than Prominence Burn," Shouto recites, "And then there's Mass Plasma Explosion; a variant of Solar Flare which implants small high-density explosions within Solar Flare's execution."

"You memorized my power moves?" Dabi questions him incredulously.

Shouto shrugs at the shock of his brother's recount of his power move as if it weren't already obvious. "I was always looking up to you, Touya."

Hours later Dabi sighs as he enters the threshold of his lavished home. The smell of flowers greets him upon entry, and he can't help but feel his heart racing at that smell. He missed it so much, and hates to see how much he's taken it for granted here.

He finds her sitting on the couch with her legs tucked up by her side. She rests a bowl of ramen on her knees as she watches the TV. She spares him barely a glance before returning her sights on the TV and saying, "I didn't make anything for dinner, I figured you'd be in the office late."

The comment stings more now knowing what was waiting for him back at the office. Dabi's jaw tenses at the encounter.

"I was training Shouto," he tells her as he steps into the apartment.

She gives him a single dejected nod as a response, and suddenly he's reminded of his mother's same directionless stare when his father addressed her.

He steps towards her, placing himself between her and the TV. She lets out an exhausted sigh before blinking her lilac eyes up at him. There's nothing that he can even admire about them because there is nothing in that stare but a blank indifference to him. She doesn't even hate him anymore. He means nothing to her.

"Don't look at me like that," he tells her more as a comment than a plea, and when her eyes drop down to her bowl, he cringes at his tone.

"Butterfly," he tries, but that word means nothing to her here. He feels himself confused and slipping into desperation at getting something out of her. He wants her to look at him with the love that she once did. Hell, he'll even settle for her slamming her fists into his chest and screaming at him. Anything but this catatonic state.

"I fired her," he slips out like word vomit. "I fired her, and there isn't going to be another one of her," he promises her. Asami looks up at him as he continues. "I am not going to be like that flying fuck boy who took you for granted and used you to get off." Her brows furrow in confusion at his long-winded comment as he continues with scenarios that she has no idea what he's talking about.

"You are my wife, and I'm not going to lose you again," he declares before he steps towards her, grabbing her hands and knocking the bowl of ramen on the floor.

"Touya!" she calls out, attempting to jump out of her seat, but he forces her to sit next to him.

"I should have left with you," Dabi's voice becomes frantic as he reaches to cup her cheek. "I should have taken you to the countryside. I should have listened to you. I tried to get you back, Butterfly. I tried!" he snaps at her. "I burned the Ferris Wheel because I was angry, and I'm sorry for that too. I just… I just needed to find you. I needed to get your attention! I didn't know what else to do!"

"Touya… I don't—"

"I'm from another timeline, or reality, or universe—fuck if I know," he speaks over her, hoping that she will understand as he looks into her eyes with trepidation that time is not on their side. "I didn't make it back from Sekoto Peak," he tells her with a finality in his tone. "I left and I became a villain. I lost you all and I was fine with it. I wanted to live in that hate, but when I saw you and when I remembered it was you, I…" he shakes his head. "Killing Shouto and Endeavor didn't matter anymore. I remembered what it felt to be loved. Desired. Seen."

"Dabi, please!"

Tears begin spilling from his lids and he's forgotten what it feels like to cry. "Butterfly," he breathes as he takes both of his hands and cups her face in his grip. He relishes the feeling of her soft skin in his touch once more. "I love you," he tells her because he doesn't want to say it when she's lifeless in his arms.

He pulls her into his face, kissing her with a passion that he has never felt before. His chest aches with longing at how much he's missed feeling her lips against his like this.

But the sensation doesn't last long as she lifts her hands to his chest, pushing him away from her and slapping him across the face. Dabi is left stunned, feeling every nerve on his cheek at the hard hit. He looks up at her as she shoots up from her seat on the couch, cupping his cheek.

"What is wrong with you?" she snaps at him as she steps away from him. "You make up some bullshit about alternate realities so you don't have to acknowledge or take accountability for the shit that you put me through! You can't just come in here and say shit like this to me as if the last ten years haven't been some silent hell!" she snaps at him. "You're a fucking monster, you know that Touya!" she yells as her face contorts to show the disgust that she feels for him. "You're just like your father," she finishes before stomping to the front door and slamming it shut.

Dabi is left completely stunned in the silence of the room after her departure.

"Dabi, please. Wake up."

The following day Dabi sits at his desk rubbing his eyes from the fatigue of the night before. He thought that a reality where he became a pro hero and married his childhood sweetheart would be everything he dreamed of, but when he looks at what he's done to his life here, he can't understand where it all went wrong. How could she hate him this much?

The door clicks open and Twice's blonde head peaks into his office with a hesitancy. He saw the absolute shit state that Dabi was in when he walked into his office, and knows that he should tread with caution. "Hey man," he states in a sing-song voice in a failed attempt to uplift his friend. "Are you doing alright? Can I get you anything?"

Dabi groans, not really wanting to deal with his friend after the night he's had. "Yeah," he releases in a tired tone and the blonde straightens up attentively. "Can you look up someone for me?" he questions.

"Yeah, sure Boss."

"Her name is Toga; Himiko Toga. She's around Shouto's age. Goes to some prep school, I'm not sure which, I never really paid attention when she talked about it," he mumbles off the last part as the guilt of that sinks in. "And Spinner," he bites down on his lower lip as he mutters, "Fuck, I don't remember his real name," he looks up at Twice. "A heteromorph lizard that's probably turned to crime. And another that goes by Mr. Compress. He comes from some crime family, I don't know, I wasn't really in the right headspace when he revealed that."

Twice nods, not really acknowledging the man's wayward mind, but doing whatever he can as his sidekick to help him get back to who he once was. Twice slips out of Dabi's office, allowing the white-haired man to sit and wallow in his own self-pity. If he can hear Toga calling out to him, begging him to wake up, then he must be in a dream. But if that's the case, then why is nothing going to plan?

That night, Dabi returns home to see the curtains to their balcony blowing in the wind. On the patio Asami rests her elbows, looking out to the city landscape as she takes a drag of her cigarette. He contemplates turning around and letting her have this moment to herself. He doesn't want to see that look of hatred on her face again, and he doesn't want to hear her compare him to his bastard father just to hurt him.

But something about her is his weakness, and he can't be without her. He needs to mend what he's broken with her, and taking accountability for everything that he's done is the beginning. Whether or not the actions of Touya in this world are not those of Dabi in his; he is still responsible for hurting her one way or the other.

He steps outside into the cold air. She glances over her shoulder, locking eyes with him for only a moment before turning her head and taking in a deep drag. He's starkly reminded of his mother and her icy demeanor towards his father. He promised himself he'd never have a relationship with her like that.

"D'ya mind if I take a bump?" he asks her as he steps towards the railing she leans up against.

She hands him the half-finished cigarette and moves her hands to her forearms, shivering at the cold. Dabi pinches the cigarette and rises the temperature around them. She drops her hands around her biceps, but her shoulders are still rigid from the proximity of him.

He looks out onto the horizon that she watches and his heart races when he sees the circular wheel of lights shining off into the distance. It's the Ferris Wheel they rode together as children, and out of all the suites and high-rises that he could have chosen for them to live in, he chose one with a view of that. That had to have meant something to them at one point in time.

His eyes turn from the Ferris Wheel and onto the sky above them. He frowns when he notices that the stars aren't visible from the light pollution that the city emits. He swallows down the lump building in his throat. "Do you remember any of the constellations that Fuyumi would point out to us when we were kids?" he finally breaks the silence between them.

Asami follows his lead to look up at the black starless sky that stares back at them. "Not really," she returns simply.

Dabi chuckles softly, "Yeah me either. I never really paid attention to her because all I could think about was you those nights."

Asami turns away from him, unwilling to hear him, but he snatches her wrist before she can leave. Her body stiffens in his grip while his eyes are locked on a lamppost at the park below them because he doesn't have the strength to look at her as he says, "I always wanted to be a hero. I wanted nothing more in my life than to have my face smiling on a billboard as people looked up to me."

Asami's shoulders loosen, but Dabi maintains his grip on her wrist. "I thought that in order for you to get what you wanted in your life, it had to come as a challenge to you; that anything worth fighting for was a challenge that you had to face and overcome. That's why I picked the name Challenger. Because no matter what it was, I would challenge it with a fierce determination."

He finally gathers the strength to look into her lilac eyes. "I don't care what's happened, nothing changed the fact that you were always the reason I pushed myself forward. If it wasn't for you, I'd be…" he lingers on the thought. One reality she said he wasn't her hero and he became a villain. In another reality she called him her hero, and he became her villain.

He turns away from her stare because there is nothing in her eyes. Nothing swimming and stirring that indicated his words mean anything to her. He finally lets go of her wrist.

"Ten years and we never had kids or anything," he says thinking about how she told him that she wanted his babies. That she always wanted his babies. So, what changed? "Why?" he asks looking onto her.

She shakes her head slightly, chin now quivering as her eyes begin to water at the question that makes him hold his breath for the answer.

"Please don't make me answer that," her voice barely lets out.

He turns fully towards her, reaching for her hands before she pulls them away from him. "Butterfly—" he attempts to comfort her.

"Because I didn't want to have a son that was anything like you," she says, not with a hatred lacing her tone, or a satisfaction of hurting him with her cutting words, but instead with a heartbreaking realization.

Dabi feels himself getting nauseous as Asami turns away from him with tears falling down her cheeks.

Dabi looks at himself in the mirror in his hero outfit. It's supposed to be him in all of his glory. A moment that he always fantasized about ever since he was a child. Today is the day that he is to be crowned the Number One Hero of Japan at the Billboard charts.

He hears a knock at the door and calls out for whomever to come in. It's Twice holding some papers with a tired look in his eyes and smelling of cigarette smoke. "Hey Boss," he greets Dabi. "You're looking good."

"Thanks Twice," Dabi says as his eyes fixate on the reflection of a man he doesn't recognize.

"I… ugh… have those reports on those criminals you asked for."

Dabi perks up at this, "What did you find?"

"Well, I couldn't find anything about the heteromorph," he says glancing down at his notes and Dabi figured that he didn't have enough information on Spinner to give to Twice. "The one that goes by Mr. Compress is named Sako Atsuhiro. His family is well known throughout the crime circles and he himself was pretty active."

"Was?" Dabi questions him.

"Well, he's since been arrested for his crimes… by you."

"Oh," Dabi blinks feeling strange at the idea of being the one to arrest the villain that he once lived and worked alongside with.

"And Toga?" he questions eagerly.

"Yeah… umm…" Twice fumbles on his words as his hands shake the papers he holds.

"What is it Twice?" he questions him. "Is that little leach on the loose or—"

"She's dead," his voice cuts through Dabi's words, causing him to clamp his mouth shut. Twice takes in a labored breath as he shakily hands Dabi the paperwork. "She was heavily bullied in school, and after attacking another student and failed Quirk reformation therapy, she took her life."

Dabi unsteadily takes the paper into his hands, looking down at a school photo of the smiling blonde girl that he had begrudgingly grew to love as his own sister. Nothing in the photo would indicate depression from the smiling young girl, and Dabi feels his vision blur and tunnel.

There was no Shigaraki to form the League of Villains for her to join. There was no Stain to give her a spark of hope. There was no Spinner, or Twice, or Compress to give her a family to love.

"Dabi, please. Come back."

And there was no Dabi to be the last one to stay.

Dabi stands there on that stage of the Billboard Hero Charts being crowned as the Number One Hero of Japan, fully dejected and wide-eyed at the information that he had just learned. Nothing about this reality was the fantasy that he thought it would be, and there is nowhere he'd rather be than the shithole of his own making as the burned and disgraced villain.

His father stands next to him, shoulder squared and a proud shit-eating grin on his lips. Even when faced with his own son dethroning him as the Number One Hero of Japan, his vanity that a Todoroki is on that platform is enough for him.

He takes the microphone and makes some uninspired speech that Asami would cringe at if she were here. Dabi wishes that her words guided him in this moment, because he has no idea what to even say. What is the point when he's become the very type of hero that he sought out to kill?

"And now, coming from our newest Number One Hero of Japan, everyone please give a warm welcome to Challenger!" the host stirs the crowd as people cheer and call out his name. A sea of fans crowd the stage below, all wearing Challenger merchandise and chanting his name.

The microphone is handed to Dabi and he feels his throat seize up. He swallows hard, attempting words, but nothing comes out. A few of the Pro Heroes that stand by his side glance his way, whispering to themselves at his frozen demeanor. He searches the crowd for Asami to smile up at him and give him some false sense of support, but she's not anywhere to be found.

Dabi croaks out a strangled sound over the microphone before the sound of slow gloved clapping takes over the arena. "Stirring performance, truly!" a disembodied amused and cocky voice calls out over the PA system. Dabi doesn't even have a moment to take recognition of the voice before he is showered with falling red feathers.

"This is your Number One Hero, Japan?" his voice questions over the system as Dabi's head whips back and forth to find the flying fucker behind those feathers.

"A womanizer, an alcoholic, an abuser," his voice continues with amusement over every speaker in the arena. "But then again, what do we expect from the son of Endeavor. Cut from the same cloth, these two."

Dabi ignites his palms, lifting his body onto the scaffolding behind the stage where the feathers rain down from.

"Some self-righteous hero who puts away villains for doing what he himself is guilty of. Oh, the irony."

"The feathers are a decoy," Endeavor says as he reaches his son. "He's broadcasting from the rooftop."

"I can handle this myself!" Dabi seethes at his father before blasting himself through the building.

"Hero to all, and he can't even keep those closest to him safe." His words are no longer blasting over a speaker and instead in the flesh right in front of him.

Dabi looks onto the rooftop, eye to eye with the winged hero, only in this world he is anything but a hero. Hawks stands before Dabi with a nasty scar covering the right side of his face that damaged his golden eye into a haunting pupilless white orb.

"Hawks," Dabi growls between clenched teeth.

The blonde's lips quirk up into sinister smile that creeps up his face and sends a shiver that Dabi ignores down his body. "You've heard of me? I'm honored," he says with a touch to his chest.

Dabi ignites flames at his fists in response, "I've heard those pretty little feathers of yours aren't fireproof," he threatens him.

Hawks returns with a ticking sound of his lips and a shaking of his head, "Easy now, Hero. You burn me, and you'll never find that precious little wife of yours."

"Where is she!" he growls at him, flames igniting up his arms. His jaw clenches at the sheer heat of his flames licking his arms. In this world, his arms are not burned, but he still isn't impervious to his Quirk. In this world, with his father's help, he learned how to better control his Quirk in order not to constantly burn himself. But he's still able to burn.

"Such a pretty little thing," Hawks continues to tease him. "You've been so busy running through all the other girls in town, you never even noticed me following her."

"Give her back!" Dabi bares his teeth like a rabid animal.

"Dabi?"

"She's right here, Hero," he smiles before flying in a tied up Asami on his feathers. Her mouth and hands are bound by his feathers.

When their eyes meet, a panic sets into both of them. She looks frightened and begs him behind her gag to do something.

Dabi lifts his flaming fist up to attack Hawks when he calls out to him. "Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah," he warns him as a red feather flies to her neck and sharpens to the edge of a knife in a threat to slit her throat. Asami screams out behind her gag with wet fearful eyes while Dabi quickly lowers his attack.

"Please, don't do this!" Dabi begs him. "I'll do anything, just let her go!"

"Dabi, can you hear me?"

Hawks laughs at the Hero's attempt to sound genuinely worried about her. "What a convincing act, you really had me thinking you actually care."

Dabi's nostrils flare with fury. "I will fucking kill you!"

"Kill me?" Hawks gasps "Heroes are supposed to save people, not kill them."

"I'm no hero, you feathered fuck!" Dabi informs him. "You give me back my wife or I will show you just what my flames do to those pretty little wings all over again."

Hawks' single golden eye turns to Asami, his gloved finger caressing her neck as she shakes with revulsion at his touch. "Such a pretty little bird I've caught myself. I think I will have fun with her."

"Please wake up."

"Don't you fucking lay a finger on her!" Dabi screams out with a lifting attack as he launches a wave of flames his way. But he quickly extinguishes them when Hawks uses her as a shield against his attack.

"That's the thing about those flames of yours. So destructive, how could you possibly save someone with them?"

"You're a coward for using her as a shield. Fight me like a man!"

"I need you."

Dabi tenses his jaw at Toga's words ringing in his head. He has to save Asami. He can't lose her like this again.

"How do you plan on saving her, Hero?" Hawks teases him. "Not much you can do now is there?"

"I can't do this without you."

"Let her go!" he sends a wave of flames that lightly burn off the sleeve of her shirt, causing her to scream behind her gag.

"Some hero you are!" Hawks torments him with a booming laugh. "You almost burned her!"

"Please come back, Dabi."

Dabi begins shaking at the realization of what this world is. This isn't some fantasy of what he could have had if he was given everything he ever wanted. This isn't some dream that he can escape into and live out some life he wished he had. It's a hellscape to remind him that no matter what he does, he will never be good enough for her. For heroics. For any of it.

He extinguishes his flames, stepping towards them with sunken in shoulders at this realization.

"Please wake up."

His turquoise eyes lift to her lilac ones, eyes watering at what he has to do. "I'm sorry," hi voice cracks as he reaches to cup her face between his palms.

"What are you doing?" Hawks growls in frustration.

"Wake up, Dabi."

"This isn't real," he tells her with wet eyes as hers widen at him when his hands begin heating with his Quirk.

"Hey! What the hell!" Hawks calls out frantically as his feathers release Asami from her hold.

"Touya, please!" her voice breaks out with a cry that makes him want to stop and hug and kiss her.

He closes his eyes. "I love you," he says before engulfing her face in flames, ignoring the sound of her painful wailing that brings his mind back to that day in Gunga when he burned her then.

"Wake up."

Dabi thrusts himself into a seated position, body covered in a sweat as his temperature reaches a dangerous high fever. His heart is racing and he lifts his hand up to his pounding forehead.

"Dabi!" her childish voice cries out in relief.

He opens his eyes to his horrible mangled body covered in purple blistering scars and medical staples barely holding onto his dying and rotting skin.

"Are you okay? You passed out and you've been gone for so long. I was so scared you wouldn't wake up!" Toga's frantic voice cries as she shakes his body in her grip.

"You really sent us for a loop with that stunt of yours," Spinner grumbles as he joins Toga in greeting him.

Dabi's chest rises and falls with the panic of everything he's just seen and endured, trying to remind himself that it was all just a dream. His eyes lift from the two members of the League who fawn over him and onto the faceless villain that smiles widely at him.

"Good to see you've finally joined us," All For One says. Dabi attempts to stand when his body screams in protest. "I would take it easy if I were you," All For One warns him. "You've been unconscious for six months now."

"Six—" Dabi stops himself when he realizes how painful it is to speak.

"It's okay," Toga soothes him into a relaxed state. "Shigaraki's body is finished and we are going to get back at the heroes."

"That's right," Shigaraki speaks from the corners of the cave they've moved to hide out in. Dabi looks over at the man that he once called his boss to see there is nothing left of him inside whatever husk All For One has created him to be. "Now that you're back with us, we're free to make our move against the heroes."

Dabi's eyes turn from Shigaraki and onto All For One who simply smiles at him with a knowing grin of what is yet to come.

A/N: Did anyone catch the significance of Touya's hero name? It's named after the Challenger Shuttle that tragically failed its mission and killed all on board. It was succeeded by the Endeavor Shuttle that had a successful mission. I am a physics major, so this was my way of throwing in something that I am passionate about into my story.

Anyway! Thank you for anyone who is reading this and still enjoying this after all this time! Please leave a comment on what you think! You make my day with your comments and engagement on this story!