꧁༒☬𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓸𝓼;
𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵
𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓪 𝓭𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷☬༒꧂
You froze, looking around. "D-Dabi?", you called out, unsure of what to make of the situation. Your heart beat accelerated.
"Hello . . . ?", you called out, spinning around. You gulped. This was your chance. You could escape. You took a wary step back.
"How good are you at fighting, Y/N?", Dabi's voice suddenly echoed all around like a warning, daring you to escape. You frantically looked around, unable to pinpoint from where his voice was coming. "You-you already know that", you stuttered, "where are you? What are you doing?".
"I don't think that counts", he breathed a laugh, "you were unprepared for my attack". Some noise clattered behind you, making you spin around. You shook your head, breathless. This man was crazy. You let out a nervous laugh. "This is what you consider more prepared?", you called out. No reply but silence. You waited, you heartbeat uncomfortably thundering in your ears.
"Don't you?", his voice was suddenly very close behind you. You whirled around in time to see his malicious, crooked grin before your feet were knocked out from under you. You grunted as you hit the ground hard, yet quickly managed to get back up on your feet.
Dabi had disappeared once more. You wiped away the blood that had started flowing from your lips. A result of accidentally biting them when you fell. To say the least, you were stunned by his speed and stealth. You had greatly underestimated him in that aspect. "Why are you doing this?", you asked, listening closely.
"I'm curious", he replied, his voice coming from somewhere above, "what is it that you have that makes some of the biggest organisations go after you?". Biggest organisations? Before you could ask him what he meant, a blue flame shot up high and large, killing one of the streetlights.
"And your quirk", he continued, his voice suddenly coming from somewhere else above again, "I want to see it in action". Another streetlight popped. The street didn't have many streetlights to begin with. "But you already did", you pointed out, searching for any sign of movement.
"You were holding back", another streetlight behind you went out, "you flung a trash can at me. Nothing more". You scoffed. "You wouldn't want it to go any further than that, believe me". The last streetlight went off. He had killed all the streetlights surrounding you. "I think you misunderstand me", he muttered. He was on the ground again. Somewhere to your left. You had to decide between using your night vision or being able to shoot and enhance your bodily movements and abilities. Using both at the same time would require so much focus that it would ultimately be more of a disadvantage than an advantage. You froze for a second. . . Did he know this?
You decided on leaving your night vision and using your other aspects instead. "You're crazy", you breathed. He chuckled. "Aren't we all a little?".
You heard a strange noise before a flaming trashcan was sent flying towards you. You stumbled back, swinging your arm in a slicing motion. The darkness was split by a thin, white slash before the trashcan fell to the earth as nothing more than ashes.
You grabbed your arm in pain. You panted. That had required more energy than you remembered and the pain wasn't helping. "Your quirk drains you", he was circling you now, "it causes you pain. I noticed it when you first fought me, but I wasn't sure". You swallowed. So he had known. "Those are some pretty big and shit disadvantages". You let out a mocking laugh. "Like you're one to speak", you retorted, "your quirk doesn't seem to have much more mercy on you than mine does on me".
He was silent for a few seconds before he laughed softly. "I guess that makes us a pretty good match", he tantalized, "wouldn't you say?". You were so caught off guard by his words, you had to gulp down some fresh air before you could think again.
Then you heard his even breaths behind you. Predicting it, you managed to duck away when his arm grabbed for you. You had come to notice that he liked to attack from behind. Spinning on your heel, you kicked out your leg, trying to knock him from his feet. He had somehow seemed to have been expecting it though. Your foot hooked around his calve, but his leg didn't budge. Instead, you felt his hand hook your knee, pulling you towards him. Your balance caved in, your arms reaching out to grab his shirt to steady yourself.
You used the momentum to pull both of you to the ground, twisting in the air so that you were on top. He stifled a gasp as his back hit the road. You struggled to find foothold in order to turn him on his stomach, yet he was quicker, grabbing your arm. You pulled back, pulling him along. It was to no avail though; he forced your arms behind your back in a criss-cross order - his left hand holding your right wrist and vice versa. He pulled you closer, your shoulders screamed in pain as your arms were pulled from behind your back to the front in the opposite direction.
You suppressed a shriek of agony, clenching your jaw tightly. "You give up yet?", he asked. You looked at him, your heart stopping when you realized how close his face was and the fact that you were now sitting on his lap, immobilized. His eyes pierced yours, an unwavering boldness in them. You held his stare, both of you breathless.
You stuck out your chin. "Giving up isn't in my vocabulary", you said firmly. The edges of his lips tugged up as a sly look crossed his eyes. "Don't you know the saying, the smarter one gives in?", he mumbled and pulled at your wrists. You sucked in a sharp breath. "Actually", you mumbled, this time being the one to send him a triumphant smirk, "the saying goes that the smarter one makes the other one think he has given in". You pressed your thumbs to his wrist.
His hands jolted away, a hiss coming from between his lips. You instantly pushed yourself away, shuffling a distance away from him. "Ow, damn", he grumbled, holding his wrists. Your thumbprint was visible on his wrists. Red and pulsing, veins around the mark throbbing against his skin.
You rolled your shoulders, ignoring the pain in your hands. You frowned. It was unexpected how much of an excruciating pain Dabi's move acted out on your shoulders and shoulder blades. Being honest, you'd been close to tears and giving up.
"That's your warning", he suddenly said, motioning towards the shoulder you were holding, "don't test me again. Next time I won't be this nice". You let out a humourless laugh. "You confuse me", you muttered, "one minute you want to know how much damage I can do and the next you're belittling me".
"Heh", he half-smiled, "just testing the waters, Angelface".
◇♧♧♧◇
You walked back in silence. The wind had picked up, becoming icier. It howled across the quiet street like the cries of a thousand ghouls. You wrapped your arms around yourself as you shivered. You weren't sure if you shivered because of the cold or because of the eeriness of it all. It made you somewhat glad you weren't walking alone.
"Stop here", Dabi mumbled. "Huh?", you asked looking back at him. He motioned towards your eyes. "You need to cover up". You sighed. You hated not being able to see anything. "Alright, I guess", you muttered, too tired to put up a fight. You walked up to Dabi and waited for him to put on the blindfold.
He put the cloth over your eyes and walked behind you, tightening it with surprising gentleness. You expectantly waited for him to grab your arm and start leading you. The wind cut into your skin making you shiver. Also making you more impatient. What was taking him so long? You just wanted to go home.
You were surprised when you suddenly felt a cloth being draped over your shoulders. "What-", you asked alarmed. He grabbed your arm, pushing you forward. "It's just my coat. Shut up".
You did a doubletake. "Your coat?!", you asked in disbelief, pulling it tighter over you. It sure did feel like his coat. "Don't sound so shocked", he muttered, guiding you, "I'm a criminal, not some savage animal. I can be courteous". You raised your eyebrows. "I don't know", you mumbled, "that sounds very contradictory to your actions". "Give me back my coat". You held onto the coat tighter. "Ah, no, no. Sorry, it's fine", you quickly mumbled, "very courteous. You're very courteous indeed".
◇♧♧♧◇
You entered your room, closing the door behind you. For the first time today, you felt a little more grounded to earth. Exhaling strongly, you knitted your brows at the realization of what you had done today.
Oh, God. It was all you could really think of saying about it. Oh, God. You plopped onto your bed; your limbs felt heavy and the bruises and scratches became all too prominent. Groaning, you rolled onto your back trying to ease the discomfort. Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to ignore the stinging in your chest and silently prayed to anyone listening. Please, please let somebody find me. . . Please.
You shifted again, this time curling up under your blanket. You sighed heavily. Again. Your chest felt like it weighed pounds, like it was crushing itself. Robbed a bank? Check. Fought a serial killer? Check. Fought a serial killer for the 3rd time? Check. And to top it all off, break a promise that you had managed to keep for many years now? Check.
The sentence swirled in your head, becoming more and more bitter with every repetition. You swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, dad", you whispered hoarsely, "I promised that I wouldn't use my quirk anymore". You could do nothing more but blankly stare ahead of yourself as your breath caught in your throat. "I'm sorry - I'm sorry that I cou-couldn't keep the promise", your voice quivered, tears crawling into your eyes despite your silent protest. "I'm sorry for crying", you muttered, the blanket staining dark with round spots, "I've been crying too much these days. I know I shouldn't. I'm sorry". Images of a dark figure towering over you, flooded your mind. "Shut up!". "Shut up, you brat!". "I told you to shut it!". A large hand flew out towards you. You flinched. You cleared your throat, trying to take in even breaths. That was not your dad. Not your dad. He didn't have a say over you. Not dad. Not your dad.
You thought you had said farewell to that part of your life, but as you lifted your hand to view the symbols gently forming and disappearing on your hand only to reappear, you couldn't help but get a bitter taste in your mouth. It became clear you had done nothing more than ignore it's existence. You had done nothing more than repeatedly lie to yourself. Lied that it didn't affect you anymore. Lied that it didn't influence every decision you had ever made. Lied about it taking over your life.
You clutched your knees to your chest, squishing yourself into the corner of your bed. The hard, solid wall against your back made you feel less vulnerable. Pulling the blanket over your head, you liked to imagine that you simply didn't exist. "Dad", you breathed, "I don't want to be disgusted with myself anymore".
◇♧♧♧◇
This time Dabi had stretched himself out completely as he lay on the air vents. Tonight he wasn't looking at the many city lights, but at the moon and the stars. The city lights didn't seem as wonderful as they usually did.
The light breeze caressed his skin, like a gentle embrace. Y/N still had his coat. He quietly grumbled to himself. Why had he given her his coat in the first place? She had been right. He wasn't courteous. Frankly, he hadn't even known that word was part of his vocabulary beforehand.
His eyes drifted over to the moon. It almost seemed to stare down at him in anticipation. Hmm . . . He'd be lying if he said that it didn't remind him a little of her eyes. His brows drew together and his lips pulled down, frowning. What was he thinking? What did it matter what her eyes looked like? . . . Maybe because for the first time in a very long time he'd found a pair of eyes that still burned boldly with courage. His frown deepened in irritation at himself. Well, that courage was going to die out soon and her eyes would be just as dull and lifeless as everyone else's. His hand felt for his phone, turning up the volume of his music.
𝑀𝓇. 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓊𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃
𝒢𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝓂 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝓇𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
𝒪𝒽, 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒
𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃
𝒮𝑜 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃 𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝓇. 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝒪𝒽, 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓈 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓊𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃
𝒢𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
𝒪𝒽, 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒
𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝒷𝑜𝒹𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃
𝒮𝑜 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃 𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝓇. 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝓇. 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂
𝑀𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓊𝓉𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃
𝒢𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇
◇♧♧♧◇
Song lyrics used above: Mr. Sandman by SYML