Erase Herゾごホ

私は生きている - i'm alive

It's a strange thing, having the whole world think you're dead.

I leaned against the tree beside me, feeling the wood press against my cold and frozen skin, reminding myself that I was in fact still alive.

Somehow.

I let out a breath, gently adjusting the mask that covered the lower half of my face and concealed my identity, as I watched a mob of people clocked in black surrounding an empty casket.

Yeah, I'm alive.

I narrowed my eyes over the crowd, picking out the familiar heads of hair as everyone had their backs turned to me. All of 1-A was there, my half siblings, my friends. All of them attending a beautiful service that had been thrown together at the last possible minute by a frantic and absolutely heartbroken Fuyumi, who had just met her half sister less than a week ago only to bury her today.

Isn't that just awful?

"Smokes." His voice startled me and I jumped at the sound of it, glancing over my shoulder to see Dabi, who was sitting on a tombstone behind me. The dark clouds overheard rolling in faster, covering any and all shreds of sunlight that dared to peek through. It was almost like even the god of the world was disappointed at the turn of events my life had taken. And so was I.

I was shot by my mothers killer and almost consumed by the same flames that swallowed her whole. It was my own fault in the end, poking around in dark holes that I shouldn't of been looking into, I was warned. I was warned many times and I still persisted. So here I am now, dead but not dead.

Only because it had been Dabi, my half brother, to pull me from the fire that almost took my life. He seared his own flesh, something he wasn't a stranger to, just to walk through the hellfire that surrounded me and pull me from it. He did so from the shadows, when the flames had grown so big and high that Shota was forced to move, allowing Dabi to slip in and out without being seen.

Well, almost that is.

A certain Mirio Togata had caught him as he carried me through the woods that surrounded my old house. Apparently I had not been followed by two concerned boys, but three. And when the blonde boy discovered me in the arms of someone who looked less than chivalrous, he was sent into a panic as he tried to pry me from the grasp of someone who was trying to protect me. Because in Mirio's eyes I needed a hospital, and well I did.

But Dabi had other plans.

Dabi, an associate of the league unbeknownst to innocent Mirio, insisted our blood connection was legit and that I needed to be hidden from the world for awhile. Because my killer would not rest until I was dead. And if I wasn't dead? I was to be hunted until this scenario would repeat itself over, and over, and over again until I drew my last breath.

According to Dabi, Mirio was stubborn and cautious, not letting me go without a proper fight. But in the end he had only one choice, as I laid broken and bleeding in the arms of my half brother, he needed to let me go.

At least for a little while.

"Enjoying your own funeral?" Dabi asked, snapping me back to reality, a cigarette hanging from the ends of his lips as he rose a questioning eyebrow.

'I'm alive', I reminded myself, pressing my skin against the bark of the tree I was leaning against a bit harder.

I didn't respond to Dabi's question, just reverted my attention back to the crowd ahead whose backs were turned to me as they all bowed their heads and listened to whatever kind words Natsuo could muster up. He had only met me once after all, so what could he say?