"Mommy, wake up." You call, shaking her shoulder gently.
She was in one of her half sleeps, where she would kind of respond to you touching her or talking to her, but you never got anything coherent out of her really.
"What?" She murmurs without opening her eyes, her head lolling to one side.
"I'm hungry." You inform her.
You'd learned quickly that complaining didn't get you any further with her when she was like this, tears didn't work either, and in fact they just annoyed her.
You knew realistically that telling her wouldn't change the outcome. She'd be like this for a little while, maybe slip into a proper sleep, and then when she was awake again she'd probably be mad at you for one reason or another again.
But you couldn't help but hope that this time may be the time that your basic needs woke her out of her daze.
Of course, they didn't.
You being hungry, cold or scared never did wake her out of her daze, but you couldn't help but hope every time anyway.
She just grunts at you, waving her arm around loosely as though she doesn't quite have full control of her body. It kind of feels like you're a fly that she's trying to swat away, a nuisance that she's trying to get rid of.
"Mommy, we don't have any bread left." You try coaxing.
You had been eating mouldy bread for at least two days, and obviously it wasn't nice, it made your tummy hurt, and made you feel a little queasy, but it was the only thing you were really capable of making for yourself, a little bread and what you could scrape out of the also mouldy jam jar.
She grunts and swats at you again, even though you'd wrapped your arms around her neck instead of continuing to shake her shoulder, searching for a piece of comfort or love from the only person who could give it to you.
"Please mommy..." You can't help but whine.
Your stomach really did hurt from eating the mouldy bread and jam, but the hunger pains you were all too familiar with were arguably worse.
"Fuck off." She groans, her words barely coherent.
It stings, because it always stings when she pushes you away like that. You just wanted a cuddle, and maybe some food. You'd even eat her low effort meal of undercooked rice and soy sauce if it meant eating something new.
You were trying to be good for her. You wanted her to stop taking the medicine that made her like this, and you'd convinced yourself that if you stopped being bad, and stopped upsetting her boyfriends then maybe she wouldn't need to be sleepy all the time anymore.
"But I love you. I just want some food." You reply, your voice cracking.
And just like that, she goes limp. Just like she was when you first found her that fateful morning. Her mouth hanging wide open, her head rolling awkwardly, as though her neck wasn't rigid bone anymore.
"Mommy." You call, panicked, moving her hair away from her face to check she's still here.
And then bugs are crawling out of her mouth again and she's wheezing while you scramble away from her, falling onto your back and winding yourself. You feel the tears filling your eyes as you repeat the same nightmare over and over again.
And that alone brings a moment of clarity for you as you scrape the bugs flooding out of her mouth off of your body.
This was just a nightmare.
Mom wasn't here anymore, this wasn't real.
"It's okay, Starshine. I'm here." You hear Dabi say from behind you, a warm hand atop your head. "Let's get you outta here, yeah?"
You spin around, seeing the familiar sight of Dabi's bright blue eyes almost piercing through you, standing out in contrast to the dark purple marred skin that covers his face, neck and arms, as well as the black hair that pokes out in every which direction.
You throw your arms around him immediately, needing the comfort you know he always brings with him. His arms wrap around you too, his warm face burying into your shoulder.
"Need you to wake up, princess." He says softly, rubbing your back.
"I am awake." You argue, sniffing a little.
"Properly." He responds instantly. "Wakey-wakey, Starshine."
You groan in frustration and confusion, tightening your grip on him.
"Star. C'mon."
"Star."
And then a new voice, Tomuras voice says: "Starlight. Up."
*•*
When you do finally coax yourself from unconsciousness, Dabi's warm, familiar hand is running through your hair, his fingers tracing over your skull carefully.
"Dabi!" You exclaim.
You try to throw your body around, but quickly remember your current position, wishing you could spin around and throw your arms around him like you had before mere moments ago in your dream, knowing that with Dabi came safety.
"Careful." He warns, his fingers still tracing over your head. "You hurt? They hurt you, dollface?"
You sob. "They hurt Uncle Giran!"
You wiggle, trying to get free of cuffs around your wrists as you finally soak up what's happening around you.
Atsuhiro, Tomura and Jin were about to storm the scary, suited and balding man from the looks of it, all of them looking like they were going to lunge at him any moment now.
"Stop wigglin'." Dabi warns once again. "Giran is fine. Are you hurt?"
He turns your head as loud sounds of thumps and yells ring out, feeling at the back of your head for any bumps, which he finds quickly, a large swollen area on the back of your head that hurts when he touches it. You yelp in surprise, moving away from him instinctively.
The temperature of the air around you spikes immediately, his hand petting your hair gently as he quietly apologises to you, dropping a kiss to the top of your head.
Jin seems to be making new clones of Tomura and Atsuhiro while Dabi tries to soothe you from accidentally hurting you while you're already scared.
"You did get hurt? Tha's a big ol' bruise on your head." He asks softly.
"I don't remember..." You answer quietly.
"Give me the keys. Now." Dabi hisses to the long haired brunette who had been scanning the computer screens when you'd passed out. "You guys are de- I swear to god..."
You can tell that Dabi wants to say something to him, but is holding himself back in front of you.
The man babbles incoherently, looking over at his higher up for back-up while he panics, but from what little you could see, it looked like the boss in this situation was fighting off several Tomura, Atsuhiro and Jin clones.
"Give me the keys or else-" Dabi covers your ears with his warm palms, blocking out whatever he was saying after that.
You could only tell he was even talking because you could feel the vibration of his voice travelling through his body from how firmly he was holding his hands over your ears.
Whatever he was saying seemed to terrify the man opposite, his mouth dropping more and more open the longer Dabi carried on holding his hands over your ears.
"Got it?" You hear after Dabi removes his hands from your ears.
The man scrambles to get the keys, throwing them at Dabi, who tries his hardest to blind you from the fact that Tomura is being held upside down in the air by a large arm, but doesn't do a good enough job of it, his shoulders not being wide enough to block the view with his body.
You wail with concern while he tries to uncuff you while trying to block your line of sight.
"'Mura!" You cry out.
"Don't look, Star." Dabi encourages. "He's just a clone, anyway."
You still didn't like it though, the idea of Tomura getting hurt made your skin crawl, even if it was just a clone of him. Because it meant that the older man was capable of catching and hurting Tomura, who everyone was scared of, which made your stranger of a captor even scarier to you.
And with Shigaraki, Atsuhiro and Jin being clones, did that mean Dabi was a clone, or was he the real Dabi?
You decide not to dwell on that one too much, wanting to soak in the comfort that Dabi's presence gave you in a situation that was so, so scary.
"You threw up?" Dabi asks the second you're free and clinging to him like a limpet.
"I was scared..." You mumble, embarrassed. "Can Tomura stop fighting so we can leave now? I want to go home."
"I'm here now. No needta be scared." He reassures you, holding your head to his chest.
You let him struggle to haul you up, his hand firmly keeping your face in place against his shoulder, shielding you from any potential upset that could be caused if you set eyes on your surroundings.
Not that anything could be worse than seeing Girans fingerless hand and the blood on the floor, anyway.
"Those men only hurt your head, yeah, Star? Didn't touch ya anywhere else?" Dabi asks, his voice strained as he tries to speak calmly to you.
You nod against his shoulder. "Just the bump on my head."
"Okay, doll. That's good ta hear." He sighs, leaning a stapled cheek against your head. "They're still gonna fuckin' pay though."
He mutters the second sentence under his breath, so just like every other time he's accidentally slipped and cursed in front of you, you pretend you didn't hear it.
"Dabi." Tomura says, ignoring the man who had been holding him in the air. "When I was hanging out of the window for a second there, I caught his eye down there."
Dabi doesn't reply, but does seem to turn towards the sound of Tomuras voice.
"He's going to touch the building. I know he will, because that's what I would do." Tomura continues, confusing you completely as to what he's talking about. "So make sure Giran and Star have a soft landing."
"Jin, make another copy of me." Dabi demands. "You better keep whatever business you have with that scrawny fu- ba- scumbag... away from Star, boss."
"When Compress gets closer we can quirk her." Tomura replies casually, as if you're not even in the room.
And then suddenly, you're falling in the air with Dabi holding onto you tightly.
You squeeze your eyes shut, not that you can see whatever's happening anyway thanks to all the dust and rubble, your fingers digging into Dabi's clothes in fear.
When you land, you hear a grunt from Dabi, and feel his body turn into goo under you, a broken sob leaving you when you realise it was just a clone, a lie, even if it was a comforting one.
"Don't cry." Another Dabi says from among the dust, making a beeline for you, and hauling you up into his arms even though it's a struggle for him again.
You don't even care that this Dabi is a lie, wrapping your arms around him and allowing him to carry you as though you're a baby towards Jin, taking you into an abandoned building away from all the people running and screaming and the stray people curled up on the floor, groaning.
He cuddles up with you in a clear corner, cradling you close. Jin sits next to him, rubbing your arm reassuringly too for good measure.
"That must've been real scary, Starshine." Dabi sympathises. "We gotcha now. No need to cry."
"I couldn't breathe!" You tell him, your voice cracking. "They took Uncle Girans fingers off! How is he going to help me paint now?"
"I've seen people paint with their feet online." Jin chimes in thoughtfully. "Gross! Keep your toe pictures to yourself."
"I don't wanna see Uncle Girans feet!" You cry out, and hear a quick thump between Dabi and Jin.
"You ain't gonna see his feet." Dabi snaps slightly. "Ignore him."
The ground starts rumbling underneath you, as though there's an earthquake about to start and you grip onto Dabi even tighter, a panicked whine leaving you.
You'd been taken away, hurt, been scared enough that you had struggled to breath and thrown up, and now there was going to be an earthquake? It sounded like a big one too, and they were scary enough for you when they were only slight.
"There he is." Dabi comments dryly, shushing you softly and kissing your head. "It's okay Star. Once Compress is here, you can have a lil nap until everyone's home again. How does that sound?"
"I don't want to be quirked." You argue, not easing your grip on him.
Dabi's quiet for a second, although he doesn't loosen his hold on you in any way, including continuing to pet your hair with the flat of his palm, making sure to be gentle when he reaches the big swollen bump on the back of your head.
"Don't ya wanna have a nap, get away from all the scary stuff happenin'?" Dabi asks, kissing where his cheek had been resting against your head.
Well, you hadn't really thought about it that way. That sounded nice, actually. Except you really, really didn't want to leave Dabi's side. Ever again, ideally.
You loved Uncle Giran, but you never wanted to be taken out of the sight of Dabi ever again after everything that had happened.
"It's getting late." Jin agrees. "Maybe you should try to sleep now, little Star, and then you won't even know you're in a marble!"
"Twice." Dabi warns again, his voice a lot sterner than when he's talking to you.
Jin mimes zipping his mouth shut while simultaneously sticking his middle finger up at Dabi with his other hand.
"I don't want to be away from you." You tell Dabi, squeezing him for extra emphasis.
"Aw, doll..." Dabi replies sadly, squeezing you back.
There's a short silence between you all, Jin pressing a masked kiss to your temple.
The earthquake seems to be going on forever, and does nothing to settle the panic inside you that you still hadn't quite processed fully since waking back up.
"I won't make you if you don't wanna. But, what about if I keep ahold of ya while you wait for us to get everyone safe again?" Dabi tries to compromise with you.
It works.
It's your current state, you'd probably agree to follow Dabi the ends of the earth if he asked.
He was the only person so far in your life that had kept you safe and comfortable all the time, even if he got a little tetchy with you from time to time because of his pain. He always apologised after and gave you extra cuddles when he was feeling better.
Mom never did that.
"Okay... Don't lose me?" You ask quietly, still clinging to him.
"Wouldn't dream of it, hon." He reassures you, pressing his lips lightly to your head over and over again.
You nod as much as you can with how close you're holding yourself to him.
No more words are spoken between you all, your mind feeling like you were wading through your thoughts like they were in deep water, everything feeling heavy, blurred and you weren't really sure you could feel your body. Everything felt surreal.
You wonder if mom felt like this when she was asleep but awake at the same time.
"Am I dreaming?" You ask, your voice muffled against his body.
"Not yet darlin'."
He buries his face into your hair, strands tugging on his staples, not that you care or can even really feel it like you usually would.
"I don't feel right..." You murmur.
"Feel like you're gonna be sick?" He asks, voice laden with concern.
Jin rubs your back a little firmer. "Want me to take her from ya? I know you're squeamish 'bout this kinda stuff. Gross! Why'd I wanna take care of a puking kid for?!"
"No!" You exclaim loudly, tightening your grip on Dabi, determined not to be torn from him again.
"Calm down. No-one's takin' you anywhere." Dabi soothes.
"I don't feel sick. I feel like I'm dreaming." You correct, moving to bury your face into his neck. His neck is always warm, even if it smells a little funny.
"Starshine." He responds, sounding like his voice cracked a little bit. "You'll feel better after your nap. Why don't you try an' sleep now?"
"The earthquake is scary." You reply faintly.
The rumbling still hadn't stopped, not fully. And it was making you incredibly nervous, especially after everything you'd been through today.
No earthquake you'd lived through had ever lasted this long before.
Dabi hums thoughtfully, kissing your head once more.
"Jus' try for me." He encourages gently. "Be a good girl for a lil' while longer, yeah?"
You mumble a reluctant agreement, trying to turn your muddied brain off and trying to ignore the shaking of the ground underneath you and Dabi.
You shut your eyes, even though he can't see with your face buried against his neck, trying to loosen your grip on his clothes.
Your grip tightens again when you hear footsteps approaching, only for Dabi to shush you softly, kissing your temple.
"It's alright. I'm here." Dabi soothes.
You feel the pressure of someone's hand on your back, and before you can begin to panic about being touched by someone you can't see, you're swallowed by blackness.