You felt the pump of adrenaline through your veins more than that of your own heart. There was so much burning - nothing but a murderous blue fire stretching its distance much faster than it should be. It could be endless if you didn't do anything about it.
You knew the reprecussions for leaving your classmates without a heads up would be many, but what was the point in staying if you weren't even allowed to engage unless it was in self-defense? There weren't any villains in your area.
Everyone was so focused on the villains' invasion anyway that they wouldn't acknowledge the other crisis right in front of them: a forming wildfire too powerful to be normal.
You could feel the incineration of every plant; not the pain, but the rate in which they were being turned to ashes, which as horrible as it was to feel, at least gave you an idea of where to find the origin of the very first burnt plant. It was the direction you were running to.
The sting on your skin as you ran between all the blazing flames had to be ignored. Thankfully, your quirk also let you feel what areas had been the least affected, which you used to take the safest route.
The flames definitely had something to do with a quirk; red fire itself was hot but blue flames added over a thousand degrees of heat that didn't stay so easily. You could predict that the consistency had to be the quirk's component.
So when you got to the place you knew the wildfire started, you were appalled to see how absolutely desolate it was. There were no traces of grass, no traces of trees--even the soil itself had hardened to a rock-state from the heat. The place was also desolate of the person responsible of all this.
Which is why you were caught so off guard when you heard a low chuckle eerily close behind you.
"I was about to kill whoever found the real me until I saw your outfit. Are they letting anyone be a hero now?It would explain a lot."
You stiffened up and instinctually moved forward to create a distance but a rough grasp to your hair pulled you right back and onto the floor, forcing you to look up at the man who towered over you. Your heart froze at the sight. The man's skin looked burnt raw from the line of his mouth downwards, the only thing holding it to the remaining healthy skin being staples. It was the same under his turquoise eyes. It horrified you.
Not once had you come face to face with an actual villain; even at the USJ invasion, you'd been stuck dealing with the lackeys the entire time. You'd had to hear of the strange man with a hand over his face and the so-called 'Nomu' through your friends.
Just by the downright murderous glint in his eyes as he looked down at you on the ground and the dark smirk he held, you could tell he was nowhere near harmless as the lackeys had been. It was as if he was thinking of the best way to tear you apart and enjoying it.
You frantically shuffled away from him and stood up, successfully getting away from him yet it did nothing to calm you down. If anything, you were anxious about him doing nothing about it.
Was he that sure you wouldn't be leaving anyway?
God, your legs were so close to giving out. You'd only just laid eyes on the man but you knew he was the reason your surroundings were gray and devoid of life. The same description would probably apply to you soon too. It took non-existent courage to speak up and get into a fighting stance as if your legs wouldn't give out any second.
"The fuck are you?S-Some kind of o-overgrown scab?"
Your false bravado was as clear as daylight. Despite your 'insult', the man's smirk only grew at your growing fear as he tilted his head downwards. The few spikes of hair that covered his face as he looked down at you didn't make him look any less intimidating.
"It's Dabi, sweetheart. Be a dear and scream my name while you burn, will you?"
He wasn't making a move yet even with the promise of your death having freshly come out his mouth. He was toying with you. As insulting as that was, it was enough for some of your fear to be replaced with genuine spunk.
"Fuck off, dude. Do you get off on starting wildfires?", you scoffed. The man grew amused at your quick recovery. You were right, he was only having fun with you. You were probably good as dead as soon as he decided you were annoying so to insult him was a death wish.
But you couldn't help it. The chilling feeling of all the dead plants still coursed through you; it was like the feeling of unexpectedly coming across a violent video online, except a lot more personal.
"Not usually. Why?Does it bother you, doll-face?", he shrugged with an arrogant voice. You furrowed your brows. The villain acted too chummy with you, probably assuming you wouldn't do anything about it because you likely couldn't, but if you were going to die, at least you'd do it with dignity.
"Don't call me doll-face, you nutsack looking shit. You think my costume makes me a bad example of a hero? You can't talk when you're barely holding yourself together. Did mommy help you with those staples? Is that how you got them so straight? I can't imagine you could see the ones under your eyes. Oh- actually, I lied, some of them are off", you sarcastically grimaced as if scared of having hurt his feelings,"But don't worry, they're fine!!You still look semi-ugly, so, good for you", you held two thumbs up.
Dabi's expression slowly contorted from its glint of pleasure and light murderousness to a dark hatred that was directed towards you with such bloodthirstiness you knew you were done for. You tried not to lose your courage as you watched him raise his arm and start growing a blue flame at his palm. It scared you that you could feel its blistering heat from so far away.
"....So fucking cocky", you heard him growl lowly under his breath.
The flame in his palm grew tenfold and you barely registered him facing it your way before unleashing it in an explosion. If your brain had been half a second slower, there wouldn't have been even bones left of you.
Your vines had shot up from the floor as soon as you saw his attack directed at you and wrapped around his wrist, forcing the attack downwards instead of your direction and you took the moment in which he was stunned to close the distance. The heat was unbearable but his surprise at your quirk was a one-time thing; you wouldn't get another chance.
You landed a well-placed kick square at his throat in an attempt to force the breath out of him, urging your vines to pull him forward at the same time to maximize the effect and took advantage of the slight knockback it forced on him to pivot around his neck; now you were behind him, away from the aim of his hands, and vines starting to surround both of you.
Your plan had been to restrain him as much as possible so that his aim could only be ranged towards useless directions but it was impossible without getting the vines near him first. If in the one second this was all happening, he was quick enough to figure out your quirk and your intended use with it, it was over.
And it was over. Dabi caught on immediately and two surges of blue flames ran on either side of you directly onto your vines. None of the flames were on you but being right between the two bursts knocked you off your feet instantly, a scream of pure pain leaving your throat as you flew backwards. You didn't know whether it was the intensity of his defense that made that happen or your body's unconsious reaction to the sudden ache.
You wanted so badly to get up but your lungs burnt at any attempt to breathe. Your eyes were also shut as hard as they possibly could be. The pain receivers of you brain were having more control over your body than you did. It wouldn't change even as you heard Dabi's footsteps get closer to your laying form. You were right back to the position you'd started in, except there wasn't any hope for you now.
"Vines?Come on, doll-face", you heard him crouch right beside you. It took everything to force your eyes open so you could give him a glare. Dabi looked right back to having fun at your injured state. You wished you could wipe that nasty smirk right off his face.
"Heroes..."
He brought his face closer to yours,"You reap what you sow, you know that, right? What does this tell you about yourself?"
His teasing voice was only a few inches away from your face. The bastard had a malicious look in his eyes. His question wasn't rethorical; he wanted you to degrade yourself.
"Well done", you said with raspiness in your voice. His eyes widened for a second before his face looked angry at your choice of words.
"Flattery's not saving you. It's pitiful you even think so", his face contorted to a dark smirk once again, the sight of looking down at you so closely making you seethe,"begging won't either, but that could be fun."
"I wasn't flattering you", you spat,"I'm saying you look well-done, nutsack-face."
The soil underneath Dabi's feet softened from its burnt/hardened state to a mud-like substance and his posture faltered before he could react to your words. You took this as a second chance to your previous plan; vines erupted from the ground faster than Dabi could blink and successfully wrapped all around him--arms, legs, wrists, even his neck. All still in his crouched and sinking position.
You laughed darkly at his look of surprise as he tried to get out and stood up slowly, wiping the soot gathered on your face off.
"I reap what I sow?What do you sow, 'Dabi'?Im guessing you're involved with the villains at USJ, yet you're getting your ass handed to you by a hero-in-training. I'm not even one of the strongest ones. You would've been on the floor instantly if it was Bakugou or Todoroki."
Both of them were not only powerful but had less disadvantages against Dabi. Even if Todoroki had just rejected you a while ago, you couldn't deny his much better chance of success in this fight. Still, you'd managed to incapacitate the villain.
At least that's what you thought his complete stillness meant. You thought it was your restraints but the man was also eerily quiet at your taunt. Despite thinking you had the control, your heart sunk at the coldblooded smile sent your way. His eyes had nothing but amusement, and yet having seen that already, it went much more unhinged this time. The laughter that came next was too.
"That Bakugou kid's not even staying on your side much longer!!", he laughed loudly, "As for him", he spat the despite the 'joyful' look on his face,"I've wanted to kill him for the longest time. I'll crush him when I get the chance."
His vendetta against Todoroki didn't go unnoticed. You furrowed your brows as a sinister feeling crawled up your spine; the smartest thing would be to question his relationship to the other villains and question their purpose but this felt like something that went deeper.
"Todoroki's a good guy. The hell's your beef with him?!?"
"You're too fucking noisy", was all you heard before feeling the familiar burst of his flames. None of them hit your vines and yet, they were falling apart from the pure heat. Your confidence crumbled immediately. You should've known; you never stood a chance.
Dabi let a blue flame grow on his palm before stepping closer to you. You didn't even try to move. Whether it was the fear, pain thoughout your skin from all the agony you'd forced it to endure, or pure hopelessness, you didn't know.
He grabbed your chin and brought your face to his tauntingly while he brought his lit palm closer, close enough to inflict pain on your face without actually injuring you yet.
"Word of advice, doll-face. You should've left that pretty quirk of yours for housewife duties. Now, you remember what you have to scream, don't you?"
"(NAME)!!!"
Never in your life had you been so relieved to hear Kirishima's voice. It brought your common sense right back and though you knew it wouldn't have much effect, you summoned as many vines as possible to distract Dabi's line of fire for the one second you needed to create a distance. You jumped backwards and ran to Kirishima's side. He grimaced and looked you up and down worriedly.
"Are you oka-?!"
"I'm all good. Nothing internal. That's the guy that started the fire", you pointed at Dabi who stood confidently while looking at the newly arrived hero-in-training up and down.
"Everyone's coming back together. They said Bakugou was taken", your eyes widened. Amongst the fear and pain you'd been enduring the past few minutes, you'd completely forgetten Mandalay's telepathic message before you'd ran off on your own. Was this what Dabi meant when he said Bakugou wouldn't stay on your side much longer?
You turned to the villain and watched in horror as he stepped near a portal that hadn't been there before. Your legs acted on their own. If you stalled somehow, maybe someone else could find you the way Kirishima did and force Dabi to submission.
You heard Kirishima's cry out in objection as you landed an uppercut on Dabi, who'd somehow not done or said anything about your appearance. You realized why when he smirked down at you before disintegrating right in front of you. A set of burnt arms wrapped around your neck from behind you and lifted you off the ground.
"We'll continue this later, doll-face", you heard Dabi chuckle by your ear as you squirmed against his hold. It was painfully tight against your neck. The pain was way more present than your lack of breath. You were scared that intentionally or not, he'd break it.
He let you fall to the ground and you coughed in pain, his footsteps retreating slowly and almost mockingly at your clear inability to stop him. You had no choice but to watch him dissapear within the portal, the portal itself closing soon after.
You felt pathetic. The moment you laid eyes on him, you should've known you didn't stand a chance.
But that didn't matter. The fucker disrespected you, your quirk, and your surroundings so much that it would stay with you unless you did something about it.
Dabi was right. You would be continuing this later down the road.
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I have a bad habit of saying my updates will slow down or stop for a bit and then updating even faster. But now frfr I'm updating slower. Happy New Years everybody!!!
Chappie Details:
12/31/2022
12/31/2022