When Dabi closes his eyes for the last time, he expects to find himself down in hell. But this wasn't what he was expecting. Years before the Symbol of Peace has defeated his nemesis, Toya wakes up for the first time after his three year coma.
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Strive (My Hero Academia / Boku No Hero Academia)
- Thread starter Ozlyk
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Statistics (2 threadmarks, 6.7k words)
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Chapter 0 - Prologue
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Ozlyk
Digital Artist Commissions Open Again
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On and on, the obnoxious heart rate monitor's incessant noise forcefully rose him up into the hatefully burning sensation of the waking world.
Beep— Beep— Beep!
He almost choked on the lack of moisture in his throat.
Uncontrollably he struggled to swallow nonexistent saliva, his pulse quickened. He needed to leave. To get up and defeat Endeavor, oh, revenge tasted so sweet… just a little more and—
His body shook with all the force he had; the metal skeleton felt so tight as it crushed him, slowly. Haltingly, it took him a moment before he recalled that he was caged in this miniscule hell of an existence.
" — Tōya, I'm here…" the familiar voice forced his beating chest to halt into an unrecognizable mush of emotion.
His unfocused eyes frantically skipped over one corner of the room to the next. He felt faint, the quacks had been working overtime to keep his husk of a body running. Even now, he couldn't help but feel the bitterness that he was still alive.
"Oh it's you," he said.
Oh right, I failed…
Tōya Todoroki took in the beaten form of his father. A short rancid chuckle escaped him, his half lidded eyes clouded over.
"Where's dear old mom?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Rei, couldn't make it," his father's exhausted voice slowly answered.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
"Right, right…" She was meeting Natsuo's fiancé, good for him. He could picture the masked resentment that his younger brother threw his way. Hell he wouldn't even blame him if he just decided to forget this charade and moved on with his life like he did Endeavor.
It would have been easier on both of them. But no, Natsuo came back with more things to say. He was graduating this spring and even had a job and apartment lined up away from Endeavor. At any other time Tōya would have interrupted him, asked him why it mattered. But there was something holding him back, and that something else pushed him to ask.
What made him so interested in studying Health and Wellness?
The bashful look that Natsuo had when he said his fiancé had something to do with it explained everything. He met her at a mixer on the invitation of his high school friends who joined him at Tokyo University.
Instead of feeling happy for his brother, Tōya couldn't help but wonder why he even asked if the answer only made him all the more bitter.
"What are you doing here, F– Endeavor?" He felt exhausted in a way that he could only explain as being wholly unique to any other tiredness Tōya had ever experienced.
A permanent malaise where even talking made him ache.
"To talk with you," Endeavour said as if it were that simple.
It almost sickened him with how resolute the old man was when it came to this song and dance—and he couldn't even do that right.
Repeating age old methods in the only way he knew, by brute forcing his way into things. Even now, when his burns had healed enough for him to have his bandages removed. His scars had severely eaten away at his hairline.
Honestly, Tōya would have laughed at that if it weren't so sad. If he didn't feel —
His miniature cage violently shook again, as he strained against it.
"Do—do you think that… if you could do it all over again, that you would have gone up to Sekoto Peak?" he said in between sharp gasps, it was a stupid question. Even as he saw the way his— Endeavor scrunched up his blotchy face.
"I… don't think I would have been capable of making that decision, Tōya," the old man slowly said. His stump of an arm twitched unconsciously as he shifted in his wheelchair. "I was so taken by envy that it consumed me. It was wrong… I was too blind to go up there, to be there for you."
He looked at Endeavor, then, but now all he saw was an unrecognizably small man… perhaps he had won in a sick and twisted way.
That sentence, if it weren't so honest maybe it would have broken the last piece that was holding him together.
"Remind me, Fuyumi is starting that job at the pastry shop making tempura ice cream cakes?" Tōya asked, his voice small.
"Among other things, yes."
He could see the old man smile, one of those rare faltering smiles. Fuyumi was just as kind as he remembered. The thought of her made the pit in his stomach feel large enough to swallow him whole.
He was surprised that she could hold onto so much anger in her heart. How she felt so helpless, lacking confidence to make her own decisions. Letting herself be holed up in that estate of misery as if things were okay. It made it difficult for her to continue teaching at her elementary school. And in the end she had quit and he didn't have the right to ask why, so he left it at that.
As he patiently listened to her ramble on.
Tōya's chuckles turned into a dry heave as it wracked his body with fresh agonies. He had almost forgotten what pain had felt like when his body's nerve endings were burned to ash. Now he wasn't even surprised when the doctor's gave him a new reason to hate this place.
"Good for her…"
Beep— Beep— Beep—
His eyes scanned his—Endeavor for the umpteenth time. The polo shirt and hunched posture made him look twice his age, instead of the imposing number one hero he imagined defeating every night.
What a joke…
"Mot–Mother, you said that she's been volunteering in the relief efforts around Central Hospital?"
"That is correct, she is serving at a soup kitchen during the mornings after seeing Shoto off." Endeavor said, he looked uncomfortable at the mention of her—guilty, even.
"I–I'm glad."
And he really was. Tōya couldn't look her in the eye. He really wanted to, but it hurt him more than he could stand.
Why? Why didn't he go to her first? He could have gone to anyone, Fuyumi, Natsuo, his mother. After he set fire to All For One's facility. When he escaped that mockery of a daycare.
But no he went to his fathe— Endeavor first… they really were made for each other.
Tōya was just as much a piece of shit as his father.
Fu–
"You should go, Enji. There is nothing left here for you, old man. I'm just a bag of failures, you know. D'you just come here to torture yourself?" Tōya whispered, almost begging. The dimly lit room was so bare that it easily carried across the room and past the glass cage that separated them.
The wheelchair-bound retired pro-hero started in his seat at the words.
"I'm just tired, so… so tired," Tōya said. The beeping to his right was deafening. It pissed him off fiercely, and that only caused the beeping to escalate in frequency as his heart rate spiked.
"I don't know if I can forgive you, but I— think I understand you." His eyes shifted as he forced the words out of his dry throat. "I did a lot of fucked up things, too."
The beeping only grew louder, the damn machine couldn't even give him a break! What he wouldn't give to smash his last remaining charred hand into it.
"Tōya!" his wet blurry vision barely registered the old man as he lunged for the window separating them. He could almost see the blurry figures of men and women rushing into his section of the room from the corner of his eye.
"Honestly, I don't think I'm capable of anything at this rate." His sandy chuckle scratched its way up his throat. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too."
He said as he faintly heard the cries of his father.
Ah…
He really regretted not having cold soba with Shoto. The kid really was something. Awkward, sure, but that was excusable. His family was all kinds of fucked up, after all. But his little brother was a sweet kid. He should have stopped their father when he had the chance years ago.
When he saw that little boy on the ground puking his guts out, in that damn dojo.
As shameful as it was, all he felt then was blinding jealousy. Tōya hadn't said it, but he and his father were cut from the same cloth. His father had used them in his envy towards All Might and he allowed his father to abuse his baby brother for nearly the same reason.
He really was his father's son.
But no, Shoto was best of them, in this fucked up family… maybe—maybe in another life.
Beep— Beep– Be-
Beep— Beep— Beep
His eyes snapped open to that damn beeping. Could it really not give him a break? His bleary eyes opened, caked and crusted over from lack of use. He strained against the metal skeleton, at this point it felt almost like a second skin.
Except no… his body easily jumped against the bed frame. He felt a tug on his forearm as he looked up at the IV. He looked incredulously at the paper unicorn and flowers that adorned the walls.
"Sleepyhead, hurry up and get better."
As he looked at those words, his heart started to accelerate. The cutesy tablet that always mocked him in his dreams and nightmares. The clarity made his face set in manic anger.
No… breathe first… Take one and then another.
Shoto said that it was something that always calmed him down, after his one sided beat downs with Endeavor. His short wet chuckles reverberated around the room.
Was this hell?
His head swiveled as he took in the details of the room. Cream colored walls, sterile ceiling, and blinding lights. There were several empty beds but he was the only patient.
Tōya looked at the rough texture of the shiny transplanted skin, at the grey shirt and pants, the bare feet, just as raw as the rest of his body. He couldn't mistake this place, he knew where he was.
All for One's fucked up daycare. Spare little vessels for the so-called demon king in case Shigaraki bit the dust a little too early. He didn't trust the man to begin with and he certainly wouldn't trust him now.
Tōya shakily detached the IV needle, and lifted himself off the bed. His malnourished sixteen-year-old body shook from the strain of even getting it up. But it was a damn sight better than his decrepit and most probably dead adult body.
Slowly leaning into it, he pushed against the double doors barely stopping himself from tripping. It all looked so vivid. The paper decorations, the bunny faces and the cardboard tree with all the children's photographed faces crudely cut into place.
He couldn't help but stand and stare at the board of collaged images. The first time he was here, Tōya was so focused on finding someone, anyone. All he could think about was getting home… He sprinted across the facility in a frenzy not taking a single detail into account.
But now he could see a camera at the end of the hall from his peripheral vision. How many people were watching on the other end? He easily burnt this place to the ground the first time.
Did anyone escape?
It took a moment but he found the classroom and it was just like he remembered. Sickly bright with pastel greens and yellows all over. His eyes burned at the sight of it all as he slowly looked through the glass window of the door.
He counted around fifteen children. As he quietly turned to look into the other rooms of the hallway. He found them all to be empty.
Then, Tōya opened the door to the classroom. The noise of the children slowly quieted down as he made his entrance. Clattering crayons and shuffling paper easily reached his ears.
"He's awake!" a girl with short brown hair said as she turned to look at him, raising a pointed finger.
"Hey it's Mr. Sleepyhead!" another one with long black hair said, waving a hand that held a crayon.
On and on, more and more children crowded around him. He took an involuntary step back, as he looked at them. As he really looked at them.
Now that he thought about it, what happened to them? Did he kill them all? If they survived the burning building, did they become a part of the Nomus?
He wouldn't put it past Garaki, the man was a sick bastard in his own way.
…But did it really matter?…
"Where am I?" he repeated to himself with morbid fascination.
"This is where we live silly!" the brown haired girl almost yelled in excitement, balling up her hands into fists. He tilted his head as he looked at her.
How could they be so innocent?
In his absentmindedness he barely made out the "Doctor!" that was cried, at the back of the cluster of children. The black haired girl he recognized from earlier turned away to notify one of All for One's men. His instincts kicked in as weaved between the mildly shorter children.
"Wait!" He said as he gently pushed her away from the door by the shoulders. "I'm— not too comfortable with strangers touching, I-I-I mean…" He ended his sentence without finishing it, as he fumbled for an excuse to make the girl wait.
His embarrassment must have shown through as he spoke. If only Spinner could see him now, he cringed at the thought.
The little girl's face took on an almost comically stern expression as she nodded to him. His shoulders relaxed, as he turned to the rest of the kids.
"Could you guys explain to me what you're all doing here?" He asked softly.
"Mama and papa went away, and the good man took me in," said one of the boys with black spiky hair at the end and a blue shirt.
"Papa hit me because I scared him," said another girl with pigtails.
A boy with sharp ears and a black shirt also explained his reason for being taken in. It would seem that the goodness in All for One's heart compelled him to save these unfortunate souls.
An enigmatic benefactor, if only they knew the truth.
"Are you okay, Sleepyhead?" one of the smaller mutant type children said.
His short stature gave way to another, a taller kid with red hair, who finished his sentence, "You're making a scary face." he noted with interest.
"Am I?" Tōya asked as he lightly touched the corner of his lips. "Sorry… My name is Tōya Todoroki, my quirk is B—Hellflame. Could you tell me yours?"
He opened his clenched left hand and faced his palm up to the ceiling. The small orange flame radiated an unfeeling heat, it was focused above his index finger. Five seconds and it went out. He felt no pain but could see the darkening of his nearly untanned scarred skin.
It was pink now.
He heard the children's coos as they stared at the tiny azure flame.
"Right, my name is Hanako, and this is Miwa. My quirk is Spatial Distortion! It moves objects around the center of where I look but after a few minutes I get a whoozy and my head hurts…" The girl with black hair explained as she lifted her index finger up to her face with a pondering look.
The other girl, Miwa, went next. "My quirk is Eye Beam, I can shoot out a beam if I concentrate hard enough, but there are times where I can't control it. My mom didn't like my quirk, and said it was too scary." her voice went to a quiet mumble in shame.
After some prodding, one after the other the children loudly showed off their quirks. His eyebrows furrowed as each one showcased violent or impressive meta abilities. His mood darkened. Any parent would be happy to adopt a child with a "Heroic" quirk. To have so many in one location was too coincidental to be true.
But Tōya knew it was no coincidence. The big man didn't do anything without a reason.
Why question it? They don't matter to me.
I need to get home, get back to Dad and apologize to Mom for the things I said. We could try again and train! So I can beat All Might and become the number one hero!
…He could just leave them, set this place to cinders.
But every time he looked at them, he was reminded of that innocently curious heterochromic stare.
The door behind him creaked open. He turned and locked eyes with the mutant heteromorph attendant— the kids' teacher? He almost mistook the cartoonish sun-like face for a mask were it not for the positioning of the ears and the facial hair.
"Who do we have here?" the man's jolly, high pitched voice asked. The uniform and apron that he wore did nothing to hide his imposing figure.
Bulging, tree trunk-like arms and legs, broad shoulders and a thick neck—the sight unnerved him now as it did the first time.
"My name is Tōya Todoroki, where am I?" he asked again. There wasn't a point in hiding who he was when he knew that All for One already had an extensive background check done on him.
How long had the big man been watching him?
"This is Sunnyside Haven House, your new home!" The attendant said. "You'll come to love this place as sure as the sun does rise!"
Several of the children launched themselves at the behemoth of a man and swung from his arms and legs.
"...Of course I will." he spoke under his breath.
"And this will be your new family, just as loving as the caress of the morning sun!" the attendant said as kneeled down to Tōya's eye level, setting down the children clinging to him.
His cartoonish close-eyed stare made Tōya stop himself from torching the man for fear of hurting the kids.
He tilted his head down, as he responded. "And what if I want to leave? Theoretically, of course. I'm starting to like it here!" he quickly added as heard the protesting cries of the children.
"Well we can't have that, but I can let sensei know! If you'll come with me," the older man said in the same jolly tone.
Tōya gave the children one last look before leaving with the older man. They innocently waved back at him and he couldn't help but see Toga's face in their wide-eye smiles.
He was going to do something stupid wasn't he?
"How many caregivers are there? Mr…?"
"Sunny! But you can call me, Teacher—or Teach for short. There's just me and three others, Ms. Luna takes care of the cafeteria, Mr. Comet is the groundskeeper, and Mr. Saturn manages the infirmary."
He was leaving some information out. There had to be security guards and other personnel patrolling All For One's property.
How would he deal with them?
"And are they nice? I haven't had too many good experiences with adults," he added as he held his right arm in his grip. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine the phantom pain of the missing limb.
"They're the nicest people!" Mr. Sunny said as he looked back at him. When they rounded the corner, he could see the hallway leading up to that room. The dingy sterile office room with the singular computer.
But halfway there, he caught sight of a window and frowned. It was night time? What were the kids doing up so late?
The beep of the desktop made his head spin and its purple, taunting words made his teeth grind.
"Ah, if it isn't the newest member of our family." He could hear the smug grin in All For One's voice. "Thank you, Haruaki, for bringing the young man in as soon as you could."
Mr. Sunny bowed a dozen times over.
Beep— Beep— Beep!
He almost choked on the lack of moisture in his throat.
Uncontrollably he struggled to swallow nonexistent saliva, his pulse quickened. He needed to leave. To get up and defeat Endeavor, oh, revenge tasted so sweet… just a little more and—
His body shook with all the force he had; the metal skeleton felt so tight as it crushed him, slowly. Haltingly, it took him a moment before he recalled that he was caged in this miniscule hell of an existence.
" — Tōya, I'm here…" the familiar voice forced his beating chest to halt into an unrecognizable mush of emotion.
His unfocused eyes frantically skipped over one corner of the room to the next. He felt faint, the quacks had been working overtime to keep his husk of a body running. Even now, he couldn't help but feel the bitterness that he was still alive.
"Oh it's you," he said.
Oh right, I failed…
Tōya Todoroki took in the beaten form of his father. A short rancid chuckle escaped him, his half lidded eyes clouded over.
"Where's dear old mom?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Rei, couldn't make it," his father's exhausted voice slowly answered.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
"Right, right…" She was meeting Natsuo's fiancé, good for him. He could picture the masked resentment that his younger brother threw his way. Hell he wouldn't even blame him if he just decided to forget this charade and moved on with his life like he did Endeavor.
It would have been easier on both of them. But no, Natsuo came back with more things to say. He was graduating this spring and even had a job and apartment lined up away from Endeavor. At any other time Tōya would have interrupted him, asked him why it mattered. But there was something holding him back, and that something else pushed him to ask.
What made him so interested in studying Health and Wellness?
The bashful look that Natsuo had when he said his fiancé had something to do with it explained everything. He met her at a mixer on the invitation of his high school friends who joined him at Tokyo University.
Instead of feeling happy for his brother, Tōya couldn't help but wonder why he even asked if the answer only made him all the more bitter.
"What are you doing here, F– Endeavor?" He felt exhausted in a way that he could only explain as being wholly unique to any other tiredness Tōya had ever experienced.
A permanent malaise where even talking made him ache.
"To talk with you," Endeavour said as if it were that simple.
It almost sickened him with how resolute the old man was when it came to this song and dance—and he couldn't even do that right.
Repeating age old methods in the only way he knew, by brute forcing his way into things. Even now, when his burns had healed enough for him to have his bandages removed. His scars had severely eaten away at his hairline.
Honestly, Tōya would have laughed at that if it weren't so sad. If he didn't feel —
His miniature cage violently shook again, as he strained against it.
"Do—do you think that… if you could do it all over again, that you would have gone up to Sekoto Peak?" he said in between sharp gasps, it was a stupid question. Even as he saw the way his— Endeavor scrunched up his blotchy face.
"I… don't think I would have been capable of making that decision, Tōya," the old man slowly said. His stump of an arm twitched unconsciously as he shifted in his wheelchair. "I was so taken by envy that it consumed me. It was wrong… I was too blind to go up there, to be there for you."
He looked at Endeavor, then, but now all he saw was an unrecognizably small man… perhaps he had won in a sick and twisted way.
That sentence, if it weren't so honest maybe it would have broken the last piece that was holding him together.
"Remind me, Fuyumi is starting that job at the pastry shop making tempura ice cream cakes?" Tōya asked, his voice small.
"Among other things, yes."
He could see the old man smile, one of those rare faltering smiles. Fuyumi was just as kind as he remembered. The thought of her made the pit in his stomach feel large enough to swallow him whole.
He was surprised that she could hold onto so much anger in her heart. How she felt so helpless, lacking confidence to make her own decisions. Letting herself be holed up in that estate of misery as if things were okay. It made it difficult for her to continue teaching at her elementary school. And in the end she had quit and he didn't have the right to ask why, so he left it at that.
As he patiently listened to her ramble on.
Tōya's chuckles turned into a dry heave as it wracked his body with fresh agonies. He had almost forgotten what pain had felt like when his body's nerve endings were burned to ash. Now he wasn't even surprised when the doctor's gave him a new reason to hate this place.
"Good for her…"
Beep— Beep— Beep—
His eyes scanned his—Endeavor for the umpteenth time. The polo shirt and hunched posture made him look twice his age, instead of the imposing number one hero he imagined defeating every night.
What a joke…
"Mot–Mother, you said that she's been volunteering in the relief efforts around Central Hospital?"
"That is correct, she is serving at a soup kitchen during the mornings after seeing Shoto off." Endeavor said, he looked uncomfortable at the mention of her—guilty, even.
"I–I'm glad."
And he really was. Tōya couldn't look her in the eye. He really wanted to, but it hurt him more than he could stand.
Why? Why didn't he go to her first? He could have gone to anyone, Fuyumi, Natsuo, his mother. After he set fire to All For One's facility. When he escaped that mockery of a daycare.
But no he went to his fathe— Endeavor first… they really were made for each other.
Tōya was just as much a piece of shit as his father.
Fu–
"You should go, Enji. There is nothing left here for you, old man. I'm just a bag of failures, you know. D'you just come here to torture yourself?" Tōya whispered, almost begging. The dimly lit room was so bare that it easily carried across the room and past the glass cage that separated them.
The wheelchair-bound retired pro-hero started in his seat at the words.
"I'm just tired, so… so tired," Tōya said. The beeping to his right was deafening. It pissed him off fiercely, and that only caused the beeping to escalate in frequency as his heart rate spiked.
"I don't know if I can forgive you, but I— think I understand you." His eyes shifted as he forced the words out of his dry throat. "I did a lot of fucked up things, too."
The beeping only grew louder, the damn machine couldn't even give him a break! What he wouldn't give to smash his last remaining charred hand into it.
"Tōya!" his wet blurry vision barely registered the old man as he lunged for the window separating them. He could almost see the blurry figures of men and women rushing into his section of the room from the corner of his eye.
"Honestly, I don't think I'm capable of anything at this rate." His sandy chuckle scratched its way up his throat. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too."
He said as he faintly heard the cries of his father.
Ah…
He really regretted not having cold soba with Shoto. The kid really was something. Awkward, sure, but that was excusable. His family was all kinds of fucked up, after all. But his little brother was a sweet kid. He should have stopped their father when he had the chance years ago.
When he saw that little boy on the ground puking his guts out, in that damn dojo.
As shameful as it was, all he felt then was blinding jealousy. Tōya hadn't said it, but he and his father were cut from the same cloth. His father had used them in his envy towards All Might and he allowed his father to abuse his baby brother for nearly the same reason.
He really was his father's son.
But no, Shoto was best of them, in this fucked up family… maybe—maybe in another life.
Beep— Beep– Be-
Beep— Beep— Beep
His eyes snapped open to that damn beeping. Could it really not give him a break? His bleary eyes opened, caked and crusted over from lack of use. He strained against the metal skeleton, at this point it felt almost like a second skin.
Except no… his body easily jumped against the bed frame. He felt a tug on his forearm as he looked up at the IV. He looked incredulously at the paper unicorn and flowers that adorned the walls.
"Sleepyhead, hurry up and get better."
As he looked at those words, his heart started to accelerate. The cutesy tablet that always mocked him in his dreams and nightmares. The clarity made his face set in manic anger.
No… breathe first… Take one and then another.
Shoto said that it was something that always calmed him down, after his one sided beat downs with Endeavor. His short wet chuckles reverberated around the room.
Was this hell?
His head swiveled as he took in the details of the room. Cream colored walls, sterile ceiling, and blinding lights. There were several empty beds but he was the only patient.
Tōya looked at the rough texture of the shiny transplanted skin, at the grey shirt and pants, the bare feet, just as raw as the rest of his body. He couldn't mistake this place, he knew where he was.
All for One's fucked up daycare. Spare little vessels for the so-called demon king in case Shigaraki bit the dust a little too early. He didn't trust the man to begin with and he certainly wouldn't trust him now.
Tōya shakily detached the IV needle, and lifted himself off the bed. His malnourished sixteen-year-old body shook from the strain of even getting it up. But it was a damn sight better than his decrepit and most probably dead adult body.
Slowly leaning into it, he pushed against the double doors barely stopping himself from tripping. It all looked so vivid. The paper decorations, the bunny faces and the cardboard tree with all the children's photographed faces crudely cut into place.
He couldn't help but stand and stare at the board of collaged images. The first time he was here, Tōya was so focused on finding someone, anyone. All he could think about was getting home… He sprinted across the facility in a frenzy not taking a single detail into account.
But now he could see a camera at the end of the hall from his peripheral vision. How many people were watching on the other end? He easily burnt this place to the ground the first time.
Did anyone escape?
It took a moment but he found the classroom and it was just like he remembered. Sickly bright with pastel greens and yellows all over. His eyes burned at the sight of it all as he slowly looked through the glass window of the door.
He counted around fifteen children. As he quietly turned to look into the other rooms of the hallway. He found them all to be empty.
Then, Tōya opened the door to the classroom. The noise of the children slowly quieted down as he made his entrance. Clattering crayons and shuffling paper easily reached his ears.
"He's awake!" a girl with short brown hair said as she turned to look at him, raising a pointed finger.
"Hey it's Mr. Sleepyhead!" another one with long black hair said, waving a hand that held a crayon.
On and on, more and more children crowded around him. He took an involuntary step back, as he looked at them. As he really looked at them.
Now that he thought about it, what happened to them? Did he kill them all? If they survived the burning building, did they become a part of the Nomus?
He wouldn't put it past Garaki, the man was a sick bastard in his own way.
…But did it really matter?…
"Where am I?" he repeated to himself with morbid fascination.
"This is where we live silly!" the brown haired girl almost yelled in excitement, balling up her hands into fists. He tilted his head as he looked at her.
How could they be so innocent?
In his absentmindedness he barely made out the "Doctor!" that was cried, at the back of the cluster of children. The black haired girl he recognized from earlier turned away to notify one of All for One's men. His instincts kicked in as weaved between the mildly shorter children.
"Wait!" He said as he gently pushed her away from the door by the shoulders. "I'm— not too comfortable with strangers touching, I-I-I mean…" He ended his sentence without finishing it, as he fumbled for an excuse to make the girl wait.
His embarrassment must have shown through as he spoke. If only Spinner could see him now, he cringed at the thought.
The little girl's face took on an almost comically stern expression as she nodded to him. His shoulders relaxed, as he turned to the rest of the kids.
"Could you guys explain to me what you're all doing here?" He asked softly.
"Mama and papa went away, and the good man took me in," said one of the boys with black spiky hair at the end and a blue shirt.
"Papa hit me because I scared him," said another girl with pigtails.
A boy with sharp ears and a black shirt also explained his reason for being taken in. It would seem that the goodness in All for One's heart compelled him to save these unfortunate souls.
An enigmatic benefactor, if only they knew the truth.
"Are you okay, Sleepyhead?" one of the smaller mutant type children said.
His short stature gave way to another, a taller kid with red hair, who finished his sentence, "You're making a scary face." he noted with interest.
"Am I?" Tōya asked as he lightly touched the corner of his lips. "Sorry… My name is Tōya Todoroki, my quirk is B—Hellflame. Could you tell me yours?"
He opened his clenched left hand and faced his palm up to the ceiling. The small orange flame radiated an unfeeling heat, it was focused above his index finger. Five seconds and it went out. He felt no pain but could see the darkening of his nearly untanned scarred skin.
It was pink now.
He heard the children's coos as they stared at the tiny azure flame.
"Right, my name is Hanako, and this is Miwa. My quirk is Spatial Distortion! It moves objects around the center of where I look but after a few minutes I get a whoozy and my head hurts…" The girl with black hair explained as she lifted her index finger up to her face with a pondering look.
The other girl, Miwa, went next. "My quirk is Eye Beam, I can shoot out a beam if I concentrate hard enough, but there are times where I can't control it. My mom didn't like my quirk, and said it was too scary." her voice went to a quiet mumble in shame.
After some prodding, one after the other the children loudly showed off their quirks. His eyebrows furrowed as each one showcased violent or impressive meta abilities. His mood darkened. Any parent would be happy to adopt a child with a "Heroic" quirk. To have so many in one location was too coincidental to be true.
But Tōya knew it was no coincidence. The big man didn't do anything without a reason.
Why question it? They don't matter to me.
I need to get home, get back to Dad and apologize to Mom for the things I said. We could try again and train! So I can beat All Might and become the number one hero!
…He could just leave them, set this place to cinders.
But every time he looked at them, he was reminded of that innocently curious heterochromic stare.
The door behind him creaked open. He turned and locked eyes with the mutant heteromorph attendant— the kids' teacher? He almost mistook the cartoonish sun-like face for a mask were it not for the positioning of the ears and the facial hair.
"Who do we have here?" the man's jolly, high pitched voice asked. The uniform and apron that he wore did nothing to hide his imposing figure.
Bulging, tree trunk-like arms and legs, broad shoulders and a thick neck—the sight unnerved him now as it did the first time.
"My name is Tōya Todoroki, where am I?" he asked again. There wasn't a point in hiding who he was when he knew that All for One already had an extensive background check done on him.
How long had the big man been watching him?
"This is Sunnyside Haven House, your new home!" The attendant said. "You'll come to love this place as sure as the sun does rise!"
Several of the children launched themselves at the behemoth of a man and swung from his arms and legs.
"...Of course I will." he spoke under his breath.
"And this will be your new family, just as loving as the caress of the morning sun!" the attendant said as kneeled down to Tōya's eye level, setting down the children clinging to him.
His cartoonish close-eyed stare made Tōya stop himself from torching the man for fear of hurting the kids.
He tilted his head down, as he responded. "And what if I want to leave? Theoretically, of course. I'm starting to like it here!" he quickly added as heard the protesting cries of the children.
"Well we can't have that, but I can let sensei know! If you'll come with me," the older man said in the same jolly tone.
Tōya gave the children one last look before leaving with the older man. They innocently waved back at him and he couldn't help but see Toga's face in their wide-eye smiles.
He was going to do something stupid wasn't he?
"How many caregivers are there? Mr…?"
"Sunny! But you can call me, Teacher—or Teach for short. There's just me and three others, Ms. Luna takes care of the cafeteria, Mr. Comet is the groundskeeper, and Mr. Saturn manages the infirmary."
He was leaving some information out. There had to be security guards and other personnel patrolling All For One's property.
How would he deal with them?
"And are they nice? I haven't had too many good experiences with adults," he added as he held his right arm in his grip. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine the phantom pain of the missing limb.
"They're the nicest people!" Mr. Sunny said as he looked back at him. When they rounded the corner, he could see the hallway leading up to that room. The dingy sterile office room with the singular computer.
But halfway there, he caught sight of a window and frowned. It was night time? What were the kids doing up so late?
The beep of the desktop made his head spin and its purple, taunting words made his teeth grind.
SOUND ONLY
"Ah, if it isn't the newest member of our family." He could hear the smug grin in All For One's voice. "Thank you, Haruaki, for bringing the young man in as soon as you could."
Mr. Sunny bowed a dozen times over.
Chapter 1
New
Ozlyk
Digital Artist Commissions Open Again
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That smug voice made Tōya's hackles rise. If he couldn't tolerate false heroes like Endeavor. He loathed the self-serving disembodied voice in front of him.
What could he say? What did he want to ask?
"Young man," All For One said to catch his fleeting attention.
"It is my pleasure to welcome you in." A short laugh followed the declaration. Hiding his amusement in a false veil of warmth, "The good doctor spent a monumental effort to bring you back."
His tone turned into false worry as he continued. "You see, every organ was damaged. Your senses and ability to feel pain have been entirely stunted."
Tōya felt his surroundings give way as he listened to the self-assured man while studying the shiny skin on his arms.
"No part of you remained untouched. Your missing pieces had to be replaced with regenerative tissue… alas, you'll never be what you once were." He could make out a lilt to his tone. Pensive, as if the low circumstances Tōya found himself in personally pained the number one crime lord of Japan.
"You weren't able to fix me?" Tōya asked, compartmentalizing his rising irritation at the obvious manipulation.
"We failed… to bring you back from the brink of death unchanged, my boy. Your body was burned to near nothing." All For One repeated in that mocking sadness, as if he needed to reiterate it to truly get the point across.
"But!" The centuries-old man interrupted, "We MAY be able to restore your firepower to what it once was…what do you think? As our dear Mr. Sunny told you, you can become a part of our family, go to classes, have fun… Grow to be the strongest man in the world! Perhaps even become the Number One Hero of all of Japan."
"What do you say?" The voice on the other side of the monitor questioned.
"How many children are here?" Tōya answered. It was a resigned, muted question, as if the will to live had been stripped away by this newly grim circumstance.
All For One's voice was soothing as he listed off the number. "You've already met them all. They'll be your greatest companions." His voice could not help but express his joy as he saw the expression on Tōya's face.
It seemed as if time had slowed to a crawl. Tōya didn't even have a fleeting second before he discarded the thought of joining the rest of the children to this dance in hell. His head tilted down in resignation as if his strings had been cut.
"Young man…" All For One began again—
—His words were cut off as the world exploded into blue, engulfing everyone and everything within the dingy room.
Tōya Todoroki crashed through the door as he escaped his self-immolation and crawled away. With ragged gasps, he pushed himself up with as much force as he could and raced back to the classroom. His arm clung to the wall to his right as he fueled the fire with his quirk. Smearing the flames along it as if it were paint.
Can All For One send his goons here through Johnny? Do the mini Nomu even exist yet? How much time do I have before I get dogpilled?
The flame in his hand petered out as he neared the classroom. The walls of the hall reflected the ominous glow of his blue flames behind him.
He looked at the other end of the hallway and lifted his arm up in a way that only phantom pain could produce.
The recoil from the large fireball shot out into the other end of the hallway. Sealing up any conventional entrances that could grant the henchmen access to the classroom.
He dragged his arm out towards the large windows that overlooked the connected buildings. Superheating and melting the glass all in one instant. As he continued to spit fire, the crackle and roar of the flames soothed his racing mind as it hungrily ate at the hallway.
He could make out shadows in the distance from the flickering lights of the building across from him. Large enough for Tōya to be certain that they were tall enough to be adults. His right arm sputtered with the shockwave of the exploding flames, the gulf wide enough to hit more than half of the stone building's facade all in one instant.
Now, how am I going to spin this?
As he turned his head further and to the right, Tōya sprinted to the door and let out a yell. He fell through the door as he screamed out for help, ricocheting against the large figure who had started opening the door he went through.
Blue fire engulfing the grey sweatshirt he wore, he pulled at the rapidly combusting clothing in an attempt to keep the clothing from melting into his skin. He heard the screams of the children and an adult woman as he fell to the floor in a desperate struggle to put out his own flames.
A walkie-talkie clattered to the ground right in front of his face.
"Help! I can't control it!" His voice became a tad more genuine and desperate as the flames began to lick at his skin yet again. He could barely make out the children huddling away in a corner while the crescent moon-faced woman rushed to put out the fire that started spreading.
She wore the same uniform and apron as Sunny, her figure tall and spindly, enough to be imposing as the clothing hung off her thin frame.
"Hold still, child. I can help you." The woman, whom he presumed to be Ms. Luna, soothingly spoke in an absurdly calm voice. He thought she was just the cafeteria lady? What was she doing here?
Tōya's face became a mask of near horror as he saw her emit a stream of frost. If she stopped him here, he would be condemned to life as an undead puppet.
He calculated how much power he could emit without killing everyone in the room. His mind detached the emotions within as he took in the risks and decided that he needed to put her down. His eyes drooped and closed as his quirk exploded in intensity. He could smell his skin cook with the heat and heard the woman cry in pain. The shrill cries of the children rang out in his ears.
His head hit the floor, and he blacked out.
His heart plummeted into his stomach as he woke up, his arms shook against the iron skeleton that crushed his ribs. He needed to put Endeavor dow—!
"It's okay, Sleepyhead," A little girl's voice soothingly said, ripping him from his delirium.
"Be careful, Miwa—he hurt Ms. Luna," An older boy voiced in concern.
The children started bickering as he blearily opened his eyes. He was held piggyback style by one of the larger boys.
"W—what happened?" his lungs rasped as he weakly looked around at the boys and girls around him. Tōya couldn't find the moon-faced attendant among them. His arms were raw from the exertion; he couldn't help but shiver.
"Our home is burning!" One of the girls cried in genuine despair as she looked at the rapidly expanding fire, her pigtails swaying in the wind.
The building was a pillar of smoke that would no doubt attract the attention of the whole prefecture. Tōya's face slowly morphed into an expression of pure shame and guilt. Not for giving them all a chance to escape their fate as tools for a maniac. But for the trauma he no doubt inflicted on them by immolating the woman into a husk in front of their eyes.
"How?" Tōya weakly began to ask as he looked at the street around them. He needed to get them to a police or hero agency that was not paid off by All For One. If they waited here, then it would only give the ancient man more opportunities to pull them back into his web.
"We broke through the windows after you… blew up?" One of the boys with short dark gray hair questioned in confusing concern. He had difficulties putting into words the power struggle Tōya had with the moon-faced woman.
"We couldn't find Mr. Saturn or any of the others. So we ran away," Another kid with a buttoned-up shirt said as if that was a perfectly reasonable response to a house fire. They looked at him in question as the silence dragged on.
"I— My quirk has never done that before, my flames weren't always blue. Before I woke up, the flames never got that hot," Tōya easily lied. "Sen-Sensei asked me to show him my quirk, and it— things went s-so…" His sentence tapered off as his energy bled off. His skin felt itchy, and he could see blood seeping through the ripped clothing that the children had make-shifted into bandages that were covering his burns.
He honestly felt like shit.
The rest of the children looked around, silently communicating with one another. Tōya's heavy head dug into the boy's back. The kids started to argue amongst themselves.
What should they do now? It was a question that was repeated; one of them even voiced that they should leave him behind. Of course, nearly all of their ideas would get them unknowingly captured again.
Tōya's body was starting to tremor from all the emotions he was bottling up.
"We could go to Might Tower," The smallest child of the group said, their heteromorph body making them look more like a mix between an elephant and a rat. "It's not that far."
"We should wait for an ambulance," One of the brattier short girls yelled with conviction.
"Or a hero!"
"M-m-maybe the police," one of the more timid kids whimpered; however, the suggestion was promptly laughed at.
"Let's go to Might Tower." Tōya's voice cut off the rest of the children before another petty argument broke out. Tōya's face scrunched up as he continued. "My d—dad's Endeavor, All Might will remember my face. He knows who I am."
He said with a bold faced lie. His head hung limply on the shoulder of the boy carrying him.
The children began arguing again. They hadn't moved in all this time. He was going to die here and become a Nomu alongside all these poor bastards.
His desperate gambit was slipping between his charred hands—
"Let's go to Might Tower!" The children suddenly chorused in unison, ripping him out of his stupor.
He let out a soft breath as the large group of children had finally decided to make the trek to the number one hero's agency. Plumes of smoke-laden blue flames illuminated their backs. Tōya could hear sirens in the distance.
He felt grateful to whatever power had given All For One the lack of foresight to neglect telling the kids that they should wait for help from the appropriate authorities. He'd never think that the tall tower in the distance looked like a shining beacon of salvation, until now, as he hung onto the red-haired boy holding him.
Tōya could just about make out the planet that sat atop the tower with its two rings orbiting it.
His head swayed as he looked at the buildings around him, the seedy, dilapidated shape of the surroundings made his senses go on high alert. The effect of All For One's influence on the area made him nervous. Where were the junkies? Many of the buildings were boarded up. And several marks from quirk use littered the walls of the storefronts.
The gaggle of children passed the streets littered with graffiti. It was nearing an alleyway that he remembered being held by a street gang that he had burned to cinders back when he spent his time as Dabi. If they weren't, then another gang must have set up shop in this sorry state of a neighborhood. He couldn't remember how old the gang was or when they had begun operations, so he spoke up.
"Hey, let's take this intersection instead of using the alley," Tōya suggested. "It's faster if we can cut through a fence from that apartment complex at the far end." His eyes shifted about, still on high alert for any of All For One's men.
"But you've been asleep for three years." Hanako questioned, "What if there are bad people there. What if we can't go through?" She continued in worry.
"C'mon, don't be chicken! We're Sensei's family, we're going to be the strongest. A little fence isn't going to stop us." The tall boy with red hair remarked with confidence that only a child could produce. Holding Tōya, he showcased his quirk. The skin on his shoulder bubbled up and a cluster of crimson rocks ruptured out from it at high speed, embedding themselves deep into one of the plywood boards that covered a window frame.
"How accurate are you with that quirk of yours? Toji?" Tōya asked. As he observed the boy's skin knit itself back together. His hoodie was ripped apart due to the expansion of his bubbled-up skin.
"I'm the best in class, Sensei gave me the highest marks on my precision! And it's Iwao." The boy boasted.
Marks huh? This really was a pretty on-the-nose charade of a school. If he had his way, All For One wouldn't need your good grades…
"Let's go! C'mon. Sleepyhead looks like he's ready to doze off again. I don't think Sensei is going to wake him up this time." The ginger girl with long twintails on either side of her head added as she linked her arms behind.
"Misaki, if you're going to complain, then you go on ahead!" The red-haired boy growled, his attitude noticeably short with the girl. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry in his direction.
Tōya's left eye twitched at their attitudes. Why did I even think this was a good idea again?
"Yeah, Misaki, with your quirk, you can fly to the top and let All Might know himself!" an excited brown haired girl with braids said.
The other kids started hyping the girl up as she shrank into herself from the rising attention.
Flight?
Tōya kept himself quiet as he looked at them. It wasn't a bad idea. If she got caught, then it would suck. But if she alerted the big man, then it would secure their safety.
"Eh, I don't know…" The girl began to say, but as she looked into Tōya's droopy eyes, a few emotions flashed before her face. Her mouth began to waver, but she raised her hands into closed fists before her. The other children began to cheer for her as they circled around her. Tōya was still on high alert as he hung off the boy's back.
Tōya ignored the jets that sprouted from the little girl's shoulders, as the air around them was displaced. He noticed some seedy men in hoodies a mile away hiding in one of the dilapidated buildings. The ginger yelled out as she shot up into the air at an explosive pace.
Only now, as Tōya looked back, did he notice the familiarity of the quirk.
Ah, Hood…
"We should get moving," Tōya announced with some reserve, the noise died down as they saw the girl blink away. The pool of blood from his makeshift bandages was building up on the dirty floor. "And be careful, I see a few syringes." Tōya lifted his left finger and shot out a stream of orange fire, the strain of restraining his quirk was a pain, but worth it. It illuminated the poorly lit street, when many of the light poles were bent and twisted.
It felt like a lifetime before Tōya could make out activity on this inky night, even the constant chatter from the carefree children could not beat the oppressive atmosphere. Tōya barely remembered a time where the streets had felt so wrong. Even the seediest alleys as Dabi felt safer as an adult.
He had to hand it to the Number One Hero; the man had made a difference.
Tōya's eyes wandered at a sedative pace, but they focused on several sparsely grouped figures who had started gathering around. Barely noticeable, but his short life on his own, gave him the experience of watching his back for daggers in the dark.
"Hey, let me go, I see some thugs," Tōya said, unlinking his arms from the tall boy's body.
"You too, huh? They don't look friendly." The tall boy slowly let go as Tōya shook his head and stretched his burnt right hand.
Tōya stared down at the popped blisters on his hand.
Yup, still can't feel much.
"Everyone, stay close!" Tōya yelled, as they instinctively huddled together. He could make out sweaty and uncertain faces on the children.
A cloud of fog was slowly creeping into the narrow street that they had found themselves in.
1… 2… 3…
Tōya whipped his arm out in a wide arc and set the unknown fog quirk back with his blue flames. The reaction between the two quirks set off a caustic explosion that lit up the neighborhood. He couldn't take a chance with it, but that single quirk usage set everything into chaos.
Men and women burst out of smashed windows, making liberal use of their quirks. The same applied to the huddled-up gaggle of kids, taking a cue from Tōya.
"Get them!" he heard a loud yell from one of the figures.
Tōya shot a stream of fire and lit up a group of men who had radiated an intense stream of elemental quirks and, more alarmingly, electricity with his left arm. As he weaved between shots of fire, alternating between arms. He noticed a thin blue figure who likewise weaved between the groups of men and women. The man in blue knocked out the clustering adults. He moved with grace, less of a dance and more like he had repeated this fight for several lifetimes.
At several instances, the tall man had even nudged the hooligans that followed All For One into the clumsy shots which would have otherwise missed them from the fearful children.
Several small, almost bullet-like objects shot out from the man in a wave, taking out half a dozen hulking heteromorphs as they barreled around and ruined the pavement.
A grasping paw almost got Hanako and the small heteromorph boy if not for Iwao's quick quirk usage, turning the offending heteromorph into a pin cushion.
The street was littered with bodies. Small gasps could be heard from the children as Tōya looked back with one eye. The lone figure looked intimidating, the dark blue suit that likewise took in the blue light from Tōya's flame flickered into the darkness. The yellow tie and highlights from his eyes and hair gave him an almost animal-like appearance.
"Who—?" Tōya began to ask, bandages alight and sending up ashes.
"I am Sir Nighteye, sidekick to the number one hero, All Might," he spoke, standing atop a giant heteromorph as he flicked his glasses back into place.
What could he say? What did he want to ask?
"Young man," All For One said to catch his fleeting attention.
"It is my pleasure to welcome you in." A short laugh followed the declaration. Hiding his amusement in a false veil of warmth, "The good doctor spent a monumental effort to bring you back."
His tone turned into false worry as he continued. "You see, every organ was damaged. Your senses and ability to feel pain have been entirely stunted."
Tōya felt his surroundings give way as he listened to the self-assured man while studying the shiny skin on his arms.
"No part of you remained untouched. Your missing pieces had to be replaced with regenerative tissue… alas, you'll never be what you once were." He could make out a lilt to his tone. Pensive, as if the low circumstances Tōya found himself in personally pained the number one crime lord of Japan.
"You weren't able to fix me?" Tōya asked, compartmentalizing his rising irritation at the obvious manipulation.
"We failed… to bring you back from the brink of death unchanged, my boy. Your body was burned to near nothing." All For One repeated in that mocking sadness, as if he needed to reiterate it to truly get the point across.
"But!" The centuries-old man interrupted, "We MAY be able to restore your firepower to what it once was…what do you think? As our dear Mr. Sunny told you, you can become a part of our family, go to classes, have fun… Grow to be the strongest man in the world! Perhaps even become the Number One Hero of all of Japan."
"What do you say?" The voice on the other side of the monitor questioned.
"How many children are here?" Tōya answered. It was a resigned, muted question, as if the will to live had been stripped away by this newly grim circumstance.
All For One's voice was soothing as he listed off the number. "You've already met them all. They'll be your greatest companions." His voice could not help but express his joy as he saw the expression on Tōya's face.
It seemed as if time had slowed to a crawl. Tōya didn't even have a fleeting second before he discarded the thought of joining the rest of the children to this dance in hell. His head tilted down in resignation as if his strings had been cut.
"Young man…" All For One began again—
—His words were cut off as the world exploded into blue, engulfing everyone and everything within the dingy room.
Tōya Todoroki crashed through the door as he escaped his self-immolation and crawled away. With ragged gasps, he pushed himself up with as much force as he could and raced back to the classroom. His arm clung to the wall to his right as he fueled the fire with his quirk. Smearing the flames along it as if it were paint.
Can All For One send his goons here through Johnny? Do the mini Nomu even exist yet? How much time do I have before I get dogpilled?
The flame in his hand petered out as he neared the classroom. The walls of the hall reflected the ominous glow of his blue flames behind him.
He looked at the other end of the hallway and lifted his arm up in a way that only phantom pain could produce.
The recoil from the large fireball shot out into the other end of the hallway. Sealing up any conventional entrances that could grant the henchmen access to the classroom.
He dragged his arm out towards the large windows that overlooked the connected buildings. Superheating and melting the glass all in one instant. As he continued to spit fire, the crackle and roar of the flames soothed his racing mind as it hungrily ate at the hallway.
He could make out shadows in the distance from the flickering lights of the building across from him. Large enough for Tōya to be certain that they were tall enough to be adults. His right arm sputtered with the shockwave of the exploding flames, the gulf wide enough to hit more than half of the stone building's facade all in one instant.
Now, how am I going to spin this?
As he turned his head further and to the right, Tōya sprinted to the door and let out a yell. He fell through the door as he screamed out for help, ricocheting against the large figure who had started opening the door he went through.
Blue fire engulfing the grey sweatshirt he wore, he pulled at the rapidly combusting clothing in an attempt to keep the clothing from melting into his skin. He heard the screams of the children and an adult woman as he fell to the floor in a desperate struggle to put out his own flames.
A walkie-talkie clattered to the ground right in front of his face.
"Help! I can't control it!" His voice became a tad more genuine and desperate as the flames began to lick at his skin yet again. He could barely make out the children huddling away in a corner while the crescent moon-faced woman rushed to put out the fire that started spreading.
She wore the same uniform and apron as Sunny, her figure tall and spindly, enough to be imposing as the clothing hung off her thin frame.
"Hold still, child. I can help you." The woman, whom he presumed to be Ms. Luna, soothingly spoke in an absurdly calm voice. He thought she was just the cafeteria lady? What was she doing here?
Tōya's face became a mask of near horror as he saw her emit a stream of frost. If she stopped him here, he would be condemned to life as an undead puppet.
He calculated how much power he could emit without killing everyone in the room. His mind detached the emotions within as he took in the risks and decided that he needed to put her down. His eyes drooped and closed as his quirk exploded in intensity. He could smell his skin cook with the heat and heard the woman cry in pain. The shrill cries of the children rang out in his ears.
His head hit the floor, and he blacked out.
His heart plummeted into his stomach as he woke up, his arms shook against the iron skeleton that crushed his ribs. He needed to put Endeavor dow—!
"It's okay, Sleepyhead," A little girl's voice soothingly said, ripping him from his delirium.
"Be careful, Miwa—he hurt Ms. Luna," An older boy voiced in concern.
The children started bickering as he blearily opened his eyes. He was held piggyback style by one of the larger boys.
"W—what happened?" his lungs rasped as he weakly looked around at the boys and girls around him. Tōya couldn't find the moon-faced attendant among them. His arms were raw from the exertion; he couldn't help but shiver.
"Our home is burning!" One of the girls cried in genuine despair as she looked at the rapidly expanding fire, her pigtails swaying in the wind.
The building was a pillar of smoke that would no doubt attract the attention of the whole prefecture. Tōya's face slowly morphed into an expression of pure shame and guilt. Not for giving them all a chance to escape their fate as tools for a maniac. But for the trauma he no doubt inflicted on them by immolating the woman into a husk in front of their eyes.
"How?" Tōya weakly began to ask as he looked at the street around them. He needed to get them to a police or hero agency that was not paid off by All For One. If they waited here, then it would only give the ancient man more opportunities to pull them back into his web.
"We broke through the windows after you… blew up?" One of the boys with short dark gray hair questioned in confusing concern. He had difficulties putting into words the power struggle Tōya had with the moon-faced woman.
"We couldn't find Mr. Saturn or any of the others. So we ran away," Another kid with a buttoned-up shirt said as if that was a perfectly reasonable response to a house fire. They looked at him in question as the silence dragged on.
"I— My quirk has never done that before, my flames weren't always blue. Before I woke up, the flames never got that hot," Tōya easily lied. "Sen-Sensei asked me to show him my quirk, and it— things went s-so…" His sentence tapered off as his energy bled off. His skin felt itchy, and he could see blood seeping through the ripped clothing that the children had make-shifted into bandages that were covering his burns.
He honestly felt like shit.
The rest of the children looked around, silently communicating with one another. Tōya's heavy head dug into the boy's back. The kids started to argue amongst themselves.
What should they do now? It was a question that was repeated; one of them even voiced that they should leave him behind. Of course, nearly all of their ideas would get them unknowingly captured again.
Tōya's body was starting to tremor from all the emotions he was bottling up.
"We could go to Might Tower," The smallest child of the group said, their heteromorph body making them look more like a mix between an elephant and a rat. "It's not that far."
"We should wait for an ambulance," One of the brattier short girls yelled with conviction.
"Or a hero!"
"M-m-maybe the police," one of the more timid kids whimpered; however, the suggestion was promptly laughed at.
"Let's go to Might Tower." Tōya's voice cut off the rest of the children before another petty argument broke out. Tōya's face scrunched up as he continued. "My d—dad's Endeavor, All Might will remember my face. He knows who I am."
He said with a bold faced lie. His head hung limply on the shoulder of the boy carrying him.
The children began arguing again. They hadn't moved in all this time. He was going to die here and become a Nomu alongside all these poor bastards.
His desperate gambit was slipping between his charred hands—
"Let's go to Might Tower!" The children suddenly chorused in unison, ripping him out of his stupor.
He let out a soft breath as the large group of children had finally decided to make the trek to the number one hero's agency. Plumes of smoke-laden blue flames illuminated their backs. Tōya could hear sirens in the distance.
He felt grateful to whatever power had given All For One the lack of foresight to neglect telling the kids that they should wait for help from the appropriate authorities. He'd never think that the tall tower in the distance looked like a shining beacon of salvation, until now, as he hung onto the red-haired boy holding him.
Tōya could just about make out the planet that sat atop the tower with its two rings orbiting it.
His head swayed as he looked at the buildings around him, the seedy, dilapidated shape of the surroundings made his senses go on high alert. The effect of All For One's influence on the area made him nervous. Where were the junkies? Many of the buildings were boarded up. And several marks from quirk use littered the walls of the storefronts.
The gaggle of children passed the streets littered with graffiti. It was nearing an alleyway that he remembered being held by a street gang that he had burned to cinders back when he spent his time as Dabi. If they weren't, then another gang must have set up shop in this sorry state of a neighborhood. He couldn't remember how old the gang was or when they had begun operations, so he spoke up.
"Hey, let's take this intersection instead of using the alley," Tōya suggested. "It's faster if we can cut through a fence from that apartment complex at the far end." His eyes shifted about, still on high alert for any of All For One's men.
"But you've been asleep for three years." Hanako questioned, "What if there are bad people there. What if we can't go through?" She continued in worry.
"C'mon, don't be chicken! We're Sensei's family, we're going to be the strongest. A little fence isn't going to stop us." The tall boy with red hair remarked with confidence that only a child could produce. Holding Tōya, he showcased his quirk. The skin on his shoulder bubbled up and a cluster of crimson rocks ruptured out from it at high speed, embedding themselves deep into one of the plywood boards that covered a window frame.
"How accurate are you with that quirk of yours? Toji?" Tōya asked. As he observed the boy's skin knit itself back together. His hoodie was ripped apart due to the expansion of his bubbled-up skin.
"I'm the best in class, Sensei gave me the highest marks on my precision! And it's Iwao." The boy boasted.
Marks huh? This really was a pretty on-the-nose charade of a school. If he had his way, All For One wouldn't need your good grades…
"Let's go! C'mon. Sleepyhead looks like he's ready to doze off again. I don't think Sensei is going to wake him up this time." The ginger girl with long twintails on either side of her head added as she linked her arms behind.
"Misaki, if you're going to complain, then you go on ahead!" The red-haired boy growled, his attitude noticeably short with the girl. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry in his direction.
Tōya's left eye twitched at their attitudes. Why did I even think this was a good idea again?
"Yeah, Misaki, with your quirk, you can fly to the top and let All Might know himself!" an excited brown haired girl with braids said.
The other kids started hyping the girl up as she shrank into herself from the rising attention.
Flight?
Tōya kept himself quiet as he looked at them. It wasn't a bad idea. If she got caught, then it would suck. But if she alerted the big man, then it would secure their safety.
"Eh, I don't know…" The girl began to say, but as she looked into Tōya's droopy eyes, a few emotions flashed before her face. Her mouth began to waver, but she raised her hands into closed fists before her. The other children began to cheer for her as they circled around her. Tōya was still on high alert as he hung off the boy's back.
Tōya ignored the jets that sprouted from the little girl's shoulders, as the air around them was displaced. He noticed some seedy men in hoodies a mile away hiding in one of the dilapidated buildings. The ginger yelled out as she shot up into the air at an explosive pace.
Only now, as Tōya looked back, did he notice the familiarity of the quirk.
Ah, Hood…
"We should get moving," Tōya announced with some reserve, the noise died down as they saw the girl blink away. The pool of blood from his makeshift bandages was building up on the dirty floor. "And be careful, I see a few syringes." Tōya lifted his left finger and shot out a stream of orange fire, the strain of restraining his quirk was a pain, but worth it. It illuminated the poorly lit street, when many of the light poles were bent and twisted.
It felt like a lifetime before Tōya could make out activity on this inky night, even the constant chatter from the carefree children could not beat the oppressive atmosphere. Tōya barely remembered a time where the streets had felt so wrong. Even the seediest alleys as Dabi felt safer as an adult.
He had to hand it to the Number One Hero; the man had made a difference.
Tōya's eyes wandered at a sedative pace, but they focused on several sparsely grouped figures who had started gathering around. Barely noticeable, but his short life on his own, gave him the experience of watching his back for daggers in the dark.
"Hey, let me go, I see some thugs," Tōya said, unlinking his arms from the tall boy's body.
"You too, huh? They don't look friendly." The tall boy slowly let go as Tōya shook his head and stretched his burnt right hand.
Tōya stared down at the popped blisters on his hand.
Yup, still can't feel much.
"Everyone, stay close!" Tōya yelled, as they instinctively huddled together. He could make out sweaty and uncertain faces on the children.
A cloud of fog was slowly creeping into the narrow street that they had found themselves in.
1… 2… 3…
Tōya whipped his arm out in a wide arc and set the unknown fog quirk back with his blue flames. The reaction between the two quirks set off a caustic explosion that lit up the neighborhood. He couldn't take a chance with it, but that single quirk usage set everything into chaos.
Men and women burst out of smashed windows, making liberal use of their quirks. The same applied to the huddled-up gaggle of kids, taking a cue from Tōya.
"Get them!" he heard a loud yell from one of the figures.
Tōya shot a stream of fire and lit up a group of men who had radiated an intense stream of elemental quirks and, more alarmingly, electricity with his left arm. As he weaved between shots of fire, alternating between arms. He noticed a thin blue figure who likewise weaved between the groups of men and women. The man in blue knocked out the clustering adults. He moved with grace, less of a dance and more like he had repeated this fight for several lifetimes.
At several instances, the tall man had even nudged the hooligans that followed All For One into the clumsy shots which would have otherwise missed them from the fearful children.
Several small, almost bullet-like objects shot out from the man in a wave, taking out half a dozen hulking heteromorphs as they barreled around and ruined the pavement.
A grasping paw almost got Hanako and the small heteromorph boy if not for Iwao's quick quirk usage, turning the offending heteromorph into a pin cushion.
The street was littered with bodies. Small gasps could be heard from the children as Tōya looked back with one eye. The lone figure looked intimidating, the dark blue suit that likewise took in the blue light from Tōya's flame flickered into the darkness. The yellow tie and highlights from his eyes and hair gave him an almost animal-like appearance.
"Who—?" Tōya began to ask, bandages alight and sending up ashes.
"I am Sir Nighteye, sidekick to the number one hero, All Might," he spoke, standing atop a giant heteromorph as he flicked his glasses back into place.