Izuku's POV
"Ow!" I yelped as Hatsume hit me on the head with a very heavy notebook.
"What did you tell her?!" she shouted angrily.
"...That I don't...know if I love h-her...?" I repeated quietly.
"That's a straight-up lie! What the fuck made you say that? What was wrong with you anyway?! She was so worried. What. Were. You. Thinking?!" she continued shouting, slamming the notebook on her desk with every syllable.
"I don't know myself! Alright?"
"Bakugou is dead. Dead, I tell you. This is all his doing! His repulsive ass couldn't get a girlfriend and now he goes around and..."
"The fault is mine, too. If I weren't so pliable it wouldn't have come to this", I sighed and sat down in a chair a bit further away from the notebook.
Ever since last night, my soul and conscience have been properly eating me alive. I felt so bad when Alex left, I just wanted to burry myself in a mousehole and never come out again. With every hour she didn't come back it got a billion times worse. Around six this morning, I called Hatsume to see if Alex went to her place. Before she knew what actually happened, I sounded so bad, Hatsume thought someone had died. A part of me did, the moment Alex walked out in such a mess. The mess I made.
When I heard she wasn't there, I freaked out with a reason. She went out with no phone, no money, no nothing. Just a pajama and shoes. Now we were in Hatsume's office, deciding what do to next. She suggests we murder Katsuki first and then move on to tracking where Alex is. I'd still like to avoid the first part, though.
"And you just let her walk away?" she asked me, crossing her arms as she put down the notebook.
"There was nothing I could do! She just... disappeared", I defended myself quickly.
"You can defeat villains but you can't notice a girl in a crowd of 4 people", Hatsume stated calmly.
"Just find a way to track her. I want this nightmare over", I snapped at her.
"Fine", she sad and raised her hands, "but keep in mind that this nightmare started with your incapability to have a normal conversation."
I cursed under my breath and looked outside the window. It was still early in the morning but the sun has already heated up the city. Waves of heat dancing around metal roofs of Tokyo made it seem as if the world outside of the room I was in was all curvy. Somewhere in that world was Alex... alone.
"I need to get this done quickly. What if Dabi happens to find her? Imagine it... right now she is just walking around, trying to recompose herself from what I have done. In a few hours, she may accidentally stumble into Dabi and..." I didn't dare to finish the sentence I started.
Hatsume looked up at me from her computer and gave me a weak smile.
"Ma'am, there are meeting scheduled at..." an assistant peaked in.
"Get the hell out and reschedule them and yourself", she replied calmly, not raising her look from the computer screen.
The guilt was eating me up. It may sound stupid, but in that moment I felt that if something were to happen to Alex, I'd end my life too.
Alex's POV
I opened my eyes. Sun tingled my eyes and I tried to turn my head, but my neck hurt badly. I whined like a hurt puppy and tried to move my hands. Last night's events flashed in front of my eyes in an instant. I opened my eyes and through the bright sunshine I saw silhouettes of Dabi and Twice, sleeping in the filthy beanbags. I was hot. I wasn't sure if it's the fever from my wound or just the summer temperatures attacking the room. I felt my hair was sticky from all the sweat and (mostly) blood but I didn't give a shit.
"Morning! You're a early riser too? So am I, isn't the morning just the cutest?" a sweet-ish voice said from behind my back.
I didn't need to turn around to see it's the blonde girl. I didn't say anything, but kept my mouth shout not to say something I might regret. I felt a very inconvenient need to smoke right that moment. Did you ever feel that emotion, when you just stop caring? So many things happen, and then you just sort of give up. Well, that's what happened to me. I knew that I was bound to have to stay with them until they get sick of me and either kill me or let me go.
My thoughts were on Izuku for a moment. I wondered if he really meant what he said and if he is worried. If he didn't, that means I was stuck there for no reason. I calmed down as the blonde shut up and closed my eyes from the sun.
I heard a lighter switch and jumped up. Dabi was sitting in front of me, smoking carelessly. I looked at the cigarette but turned away. He rubbed his eyes and stretched.
"Toga, draw the curtains. This sun is a pain in the ass", he said, scratching the back of his spiky head.
I heard the girl get up quickly and happily draw them. That's when I found out what her name was.
"How did you know?" I asked all of a sudden.
"Know what?" Dabi said.
"Everything", I shrugged my shoulder of the healthy arm.
"We didn't", Dabi replied quickly. "It happened by chance."
"We did. We did not!" Twice yelled from the corner groggily.
I rolled my eyes and looked to the side. Dabi's cold eyes seemed to stare way too deeply into me and I didn't like it. It felt as if he could find anything out - as long as he wants it. I was numb to my own feelings and couldn't rationally identify them at all. I wasn't even scared. Deep down, I knew they won't harm me until they get what they want. If they're as 'honorable' villains as they represent themselves, they will set me free. If not, I'll die. Simple as that.
"Alright then... I will tell you. But just because I'm in a good mood", Dabi said after a pause, waving his cigarette and making the smoke dance around my face.
"I don't know if you know but... we have a fancy little gadget at your place. The little grey-ish thing you picked up from your apartment when you were moving. That's it. So we pretty much knew what's going on. That's when we heard you say to that pink girl where your extra key was. We moved in here, hoping Midoriya would come himself. The LOV members switched shifts, practically camping in here. We gave up, as you can see...", he said, showing the space filled with trash around him, "until you came here again. We had no idea you were coming. So we made up a plan quickly, Twice made a clone and - voila!"
"You're a burnt piece of trash", I stated calmly. "No wonder that father of yours never liked you."
"What did you say?" he stopped laughing and crushed his cigarette.
"Oopsie...", Toga giggled.
I gulped. I said it recklessly, didn't mean to. Dabi's eyes gave off a feeling of a storm. I could see the clouds gathering. His hand lit up with a blue colour, the fire sparks gently flying around me. I moved my head back as he brought his activated quirk under my nose.
"Dabi! If you do it now, there is no use of anything in the future!" Twice said, no contraries this time.
Dabi's eyes were still focused on me like an eagle's to its prey, and the flames still danced a very fiery dance around me. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared and Dabi turned around and left the room in a frustrated manner. I exhaled and slouched back into my previous position. Toga smiled to me but it only scared me even more. I saw her hand move back and forth teasingly. I turned my head around and looked at the dirty floor under my feet. She moved to me and turned my head to face her.
"They call me 'Stabby-Stabby'! I wonder why, though..." she said and slowly opened her palm.
I saw a knife shimmer lightly in the dimmed sunrays. I looked into her eyes.
"If you ever loved, you'll know that the biggest torture is to be away from the one you love in such a way. Even when we run away from the ones we love or even loved, they are within us. So your little knifes and threats and whatever else you have in plan can't do me any worse than I am now doing now", I said quietly.
In that moment, as I said those words, I felt something press on my heart. Like a rock which has been swinging above it has finally decided to crush me.
Toga stepped away slowly, putting the knife in her pocket. She turned around and I heard her sniffle as if I said something very offensive to her.
Looking back at Dabi's, Toga's and Twice's life stories I knew or heard about from Izuku, I realized something. I realized they were all victims. Victims gone evil.