TW: Self-inflicted Burns, Depression
The night you tried to escape, you cried yourself into a dreamless sleep.
Immersed deep in icy-cold water, you looked upwards through the lake to see a bright light like the sun beaming overhead. Hope filled your heart as you used the last of your energy to swim towards it...towards the surface...only to realize that there was a sheet of glass above you. You pounded on the pane to break hrough. You stared up at your own reflection above you looking terrified, screaming at you as if they were trying to save you. Palms against the glass, water filling your lungs...you were submerged, you were drowning.
You needed to break through this surface...you needed to breathe on your own once again.
There was nothing you could do.
"It's okay to let go. You don't need to fight anymore."
A man with scarlet hair and bright blue eyes smiled at you so gently and sweet, scar-less hand extended. Toya's true self was reaching for you...and he wanted the two of you to drown in this darkness together. You wanted to reach for Toya and his warmth...his calming and adoring presence was absolutely intoxicating. You didn't have to try anymore...you didn't have to keep fighting. You could give up and everything would be okay.
"(Y/N)!" You looked above you to now see two people, this time your reflection was accompanied by a person you loved more than life itself. Katsuki was punching at the glass, screaming at it to try and break it before you drowned. "Don't you dare fucking leave me! You have to keep going! Please! I love you!" Katsuki's voice was calling for you and you couldn't answer thanks to the icy water saturating each breath. Your body was on fire and burning, yet you immediately tried to reach for Katsuki.
Even with the sun blocked from view, you knew as long as Katsuki was on the otherside of this glass that everything would be okay.
"I GOT YOU BABY! JUST WAIT FOR ME OKAY?!" And with a final punch on the glass, he finally made a crack.
Your ice cold body jolted awake in your cot, and despite your blurry and mostly gray vision, you had bright golden irises for just a moment.
"Can't sleep, sweetheart?" You went to look over at whoever spoke to you until you realized your vision was still not absorbing light. Dabi was sitting next to you with a book in his hands, the scent of the old parchment and the sound of it closing alerting you of what he was doing. "Try dreaming of me next time and it won't be so bad." You leaned up on the cot and slumped against Dabi with little to no energy to hold yourself up. With a body so weak and broken, you were surprised you were even able to wake up anymore.
"I did. You were there," Your dry voice rasped out. Dabi's cerulean eyes looked over at you in shock, your dead eye stare at the wall showing that you were still blind. He took the moment to show genuine emotion, his black eyebrows furrowing and a slight empathetic frown taking over his scarred face. He lifted his hand for just a moment as if to touch your face, but he elected against it.
"Oh yeah? Was I as sexy in your dream as I am in real life?" He asked you in an attempt to hide his subtle excitement.
"I saw you as your true self...I saw you as Toya...with such vibrant red hair and a gentleness that probably doesn't exist anymore. If that's still you, then yeah, you were in my dream." Your words sat heavily in the air for a moment...leaving the villain in quiet thoughtfulness.
"Well, I'm sure you can thank your dickhead boss Endeavor of ruining that dream." Once again the room was quiet, but despite your absolute hatred of what Dabi did to your people, you couldn't find that anger in your heart for him anymore. He was there-, still here, as you suffered in the darkness. While you gave up on your chances of ever seeing the outside world, he was there to bring you back on your feet...you couldn't sink so low again...but the darkness was your own brand of poisonous comfort.
You lived in the darkness for years as you survived in the underbelly of the world. Dabi was simply everything in your past coming back to haunt you, and like a drug it was an addicting thought to attach to.
"Come with me," You blurted out of nowhere. "You were staying in the darkness in my dream. You wanted me to come with you Dabi, but I think you should come with me. If you and I worked together, I could finally get out of here and we can figure something out. Dabi...you don't have to choose to live this way anymore. I am proof that there are people in this world willing to accept you after making dark choices. Now's your chance to walk away from this...from all of this," You pleaded with the villain. Dabi didn't know how to respond to this, just taken so aback by the fact this little forest mouse that he loved chasing just was willing to forgive his transgressions and move on.
How could he possibly believe that? If his own father wouldn't accept him for who he was, then how could this random girl? Especially one that he has mentially tortured and abused.
"Dabi...you still have a heart in you. Otherwise, you would never have tried to rescue me. I know Toya is still alive in there. You can't lie to me anymore." Dabi clicked his teeth as he couldn't help but mentally picture what his life would be like if he listened to you. His scarred hand was lifted for a moment just to touch a stray piece of your hair, your breath hitching in your throat at the intimacy behind the touch.
He could walk with his mom to get tea at a cafe like she used to when he was in school...Natsuo would smile and ask to play soccer in the yard...Fuyumi would grin in the kitchen while making his favorite spicy yakitori...Shoto could finally get to know his big brother.
Toya could sit down with you at the park and smile for real...he could run his fingers through the sides of your hair and feel love for the first time in his life. His whole world could be filled with light...with you at the epicenter to show him the way.
But attached to your hand would be Katsuki Bakugo who loved you fully and completely in ways that Dabi never could. The way you smiled at Katsuki was brighter than even the ever present sun, a grin so honest and pure that the weight on your shoulders could have been made of feathers. Dabi knew how this was going to play out, and the heartache he already felt would always hold him back like shackles to his doubts. Endeavor made a point of calling him a failure growing up...that he was never the ideal that his father wanted him to be.
Despite Dabi's growing and twisted attachment to you, he knew it would just play out the same way.
"It's too late for me sweetheart. The world I want to live in no longer exists," Dabi muttered so low that you could barely hear him. Perhaps it was your weak state or maybe the fact Dabi knew he was the only thing keeping you alive right now, but Dabi felt like mourning his past for the first time. He touched his cheek as a foreign drop of smoke escaped his eye, wishing for the first time that he never ran away from home...that he didn't fake his death...that he didn't agree to join All for One and Shigaraki the night they were exercising their quirks for evil against your village.
Toya Todoroki was still considered a child when he burned your village to the ground...and that night was the first time anyone ever died due to his hands...and his scars were his self-inflicted punishment for that. He felt that since he became a monster, that he should look like a monster. Guilt flooded his chest knowing that the only survivor of the event that ruined his life was willing to forgive him...to help him heal even though he was the one to break you. Dabi was one of the sole reasons your life went to hell for so long...why your parents were gone...why you didn't have a home to return to for years...
How could you possibly have so much love in your heart to allow Dabi to move forward and onwards despite his transgressions?
The thought made him sick. He couldn't understand it. He wanted you to keep running, to keep staring at him with fear in your eyes...but here you were, falling back into an unconscious state right in his arms. Once you were dead asleep and vulnerable...laying in waiting for someone to return the love you put out in this world...Dabi leaned downwards and just so softly pressed his lips to yours.
"I can't follow you...I wish I could...but I can't," Toya's true nature seeped through those violet scars as he slowly placed you back down on your cot, you blissfully unaware of the fact a villain had kissed you or that a broken-hearted man had left your cell.
But despite the fact that Dabi refused to walk with you in the light, he elected to avenge you in the darkness. Staying hidden and keeping the rest of Overhaul's crew completely unaware, it took Dabi no time at all to find the Doctor and make him pay for everything he had done to you. No amount of bleach would ever fully remove the scent of rust from his lab...and no number of corpses burned in your name would ever redeem the pain Dabi felt inside his heart.
~~
Hawks flew as fast as he could back to the mercenary base where the UA students and Endeavor were working together basically 24/7 to find you. The avian hero on the other hand was scouring his sources in the black market and in the criminal world to see if anyone has seen or heard about you.
Today he finally found something.
With sweat dripping down his face, he barged into the headquarters where Katsuki was comparing notes with Todoroki and Shinso was talking with Natsuo about locations that Nighteye's Agency were investigating. Endeavor was coming back from a meeting with said man...his heart doing flips in his chest after learning that Mirio and Deku ran into a little girl who asked for him...something that only you would tell someone to do. Endeavor wasn't a popular hero by any means...but those two students heard a woman's voice and a little girl asked for him before running off with her 'father'...it had to have been you.
"I got something!" Hawks excitedly yelled out while holding a silver suitcase up in the air. Katsuki's heart dropped into his stomach and he immediately approached Hawks.
"What is it?!"
"I've been running around everywhere and one of my connections sent this to me. Apparently The Doctor has been using (y/n)'s genetic code to create temporary quirks. He sent me three vials of her vanish quirk. I don't know if her ghost quirk is also on the market but we at least have these. If they are marketing vials of her quirk, she has to be still alive out there. I was thinking Whiz Kid might be able to trace where these came from," Hawks explained as he placed the suitcase on the center table in the main room. He slowly unbuckled the case to reveal refrigerated vials with a glowing violet liquid inside. Katsuki's eyebrows furrowed in disgust...and moreso in fear over what was happening to you.
"So this fucker has been testing on her like a goddamn lab rat? What the fuck?" Shoto turned to his brother with a serious expression.
"When is father coming back? He should see this," Shoto muttered just loud enough for Natsuo to hear. The white haired boy scratched the back of his head only to see Endeavor decsend the entryway staircase.
"I guess he's back now," Natsuo grumbled. Endeavor saw Hawks craning over something on the table and immediately came over.
"Did you find something, Hawks?" The elder hero bellowed out. Hawks nodded and pointed towards the case while re-explaining his finds. "I found something too," Endeavor followed up. He looked directly at the three UA students who were eager just to find out anything new.
"Looks like the interns for Nighteye's Agency, Midoriya and Mirio, ran into a little girl who asked for me. They believe she was imprisoned with (y/n). If we can track this girl down. We will be able to (y/n). Nighteye is already on it and we are thinking that it would be possible to find her by the end of the week." Hawks looked at the boys who were eager to get moving...but he knew that Endeavor would never allow them to work further on this project.
"You guys realize that you won't be able to join us for a rescue mission right? Our deal was that you would stay out of harms way," Hawks explained. Katsuki marched up to Hawks before anyone else could respond, his eyes focused with intense distaste.
"You seem to like getting in my way Birdbrain. I'm gonna save my girl whether you like it or not." Hawks was up for the challenge...but he certainly was getting real tired of putting up with Bakugo. He would do it though. He promised you he would protect Katsuki Bakugo and he would never let you down.
"I don't need anyone incompetent down there. Especially unlicensed heroes. People are probably going to die and you aren't willing to pull that trigger."
"And I don't need someone telling me what I'm capable of! If (y/n)'s in trouble, I'll blast them all to hell!" Katsuki gritted ferociously. Hawks let out an annoyed sigh but Endeavor placed a hand on the young student's shoulder.
"While your dedication is appreciated...it's unnecessary. You boys are future heroes. Don't let this moment hold you back from future success," Endeavor did his best to help them in the only way he knew how. His cyan eyes looked over at his sons...two vastly different boys with different talents. Shoto was a boy with skill in almost everything he did...Natsuo had to work much harder and ended up surrendering his literacy and programming skills to mercenaries. Perhaps if Endeavor paid more attention earlier, he could have supported Natsuo to enter a career that wasn't working alongside criminals. Instead, he focused on preventing Shoto from making the same mistake.
"Fuck that. If I don't have her with me, it's not fucking worth it." Katsuki shrugged off Endeavor's palm and started to walk away while eyeing up the syringes in the suitcase. He remembered how you worked with Deku and Kirishima while he was taken by the League of Villains...maybe they knew something that could help.
"I'll be back," Katsuki spoke directly to Shinso and Shoto who seemed to be on the same page as him as he walked into what was now Natsuo's office. He slowly shut the door and dialed a very rarely used contact in his phone with antsy hands and a slight pace around the room.
"H-hello?"
"Deku, I heard you might have run into someone who's seen (y/n)." Katuski's voice was gruff but there was no malice towards the receiving end of the line. Even Deku was surprised by this but he was just as willing to work with Katsuki if it meant to help find you.
"Yeah Mirio and I found this little girl. Her father came to take her back but she said that her big sister wanted Endeavor...and I just barely heard a woman call out the girl's name. I wanted to keep the girl with me but Mirio didn't want us to mess up out mission..." Deku's voice was filled to the brim with sour regret to the point that Katsuki knew calling him out for releasing the little girl wouldn't fix anything. Instead, Katsuki remained productive.
"I need to know how you and (y/n) worked together to save me...how she found me and whatever. I need to know so I can do the same for her," Katsuki replied. Deku was thoughtful for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his mind.
"She was training for a while to be strong enough to get you...and she gave me this watch that sent out a location to her hero costume visor. I don't know if that will help you at all...but I know with her quirk she was able to teleport to my location."
Katsuki peered back towards the main room while narrowing on the vials of your quirk, ideas brewing in the back of his head.
"Deku...would you be sent on a raid into the building she's at if you guys found it?"
"Yeah, definitely. I think me and a few other agencies, why?" Katsuki released a major sigh of stress from his body...his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I'll only fucking say this once so don't you think for a second we're friends. But...I think we should work together on this...I have an idea."
The line went quiet as Deku gasped in shock...but hope filled the heroes' hearts as they thought there was finally a possibility in reaching you...in saving you.
Katsuki went directly into Whiz Kid's office and skipped the meeting with the heroes just to find the man directly responsible for everything you have utilized in the past nearly ten years.
"Hey Merc," Katsuki called out with narrowed scarlet eyes that gleamed with an inspired flame. Whiz Kid popped his head up from some sketches he was working on. "I need a suit," was all Katsuki said that lead to his inception as his own undercover mercenary.
He would make the sacrifices needed to save you, and he wouldn't let anything get in his fucking way.
~~
THREE WEEKS IN CAPTIVITY
After several days of designing, testing, and working with various tech, Katsuki, Shoto, and Shinso were all equipped to start their work towards rescuing you while remaining undercover. Just like your mercenary outfit, the boys were equipped with a half mask to obscure their features from recognition, matching black outfits with different materials used to accommodate for their quirks.
Shinso had an amplifying speaker and earpiece so he could speak louder and hear even the quietest whispers for his quirk...along with one of Aizawa's scarfs for fighting. Shoto's suit could handle both his fire and his ice sides no differently than his usual suit, but this time he and the other boys had a communication device in their ears that could withstand the most abnormal temperatures. Katsuki was different however. His skin tight black outfit contained a long sleeve fitted shirt and somewhat loose matching pants. His gloves were designed to contain his explosions specifically for indoor environments and tactile movements.
Not only were all of the boys equipped with new mercenary uniforms...but Whiz Kid made them each a visor just like yours.
"You guys look good," Kalama complimented as her and Kiana were dropping off new map plans and facility information to the Hunter's Bureau. The secretaries were annoyed that Endeavor banned them from joining any fight...so they were willing to live vicariously through the three tenacious UA students. Shinso gave them a sly smile under his mask with his wild purple hair and matching eyes in full view.
"I know. Anything new?" Kiana smiled for just a moment while handing the boys a small folder with only three photos inside.
"Nighteye narrowed down his research to these three facilities...but thanks to Hawks and his inside guy, we are pretty settled on this one." The Hawaiian woman pointed towards the last picture of a traditional looking mansion or compound. "This building was operated by the Yakuza...and it's not too terribly far from where the little girl was found. We thought that perhaps the two girls would have been relocated, but we are thinking they might have just been moved to a more secure local facility underground. Hawks' informant says that (y/n) is still alive and has been healing from the tests. Her eyes are starting to heal where she can see silhouttes and whatnot, but she has yet to have been able to teleport and ghost through objects. Her...experiments...may have delayed the progress of her healing."
Kiana's update, despite being positive information, had severely soured the mood of the boys who were waiting eagerly. You must have endured some horrific torture and pain if you still weren't healed well over three weeks into your capture. Katsuki bit his lip and rocked on his heels for a moment simply out of anxiety. Shoto placed a hand on his shoulder and Shinso was glaring at the picture with rage.
"What about The Doctor? Is he still around?" Shoto asked the secretary. Kalama shook her head.
"He's been missing for over a week. At least that's when the syringes stopped entering the market. Hawks has been looking for them to try and collect them all, but he's sure that there are probably more samples at the facility. One of the top priorities is to transfer the database of information and retrieve his hard drive over to Whiz Kid to have. Mercenaries aren't the most trust worthy, but if (y/n) lost her quirk then perhaps he is the best one to get it back."
Katsuki nearly toppled over. (y/n) losing her quirk? All that work she did to try and become a hero? Will that all be for nothing?
Would she even want to be a hero after this?
"W-Wait I'm getting a call from Endeavor! Shh!" Kalama exclaimed. She touched her earpiece and nodded with her silver hair bobbing in its usual neat bun. "Yes sir. Right away. Yes sir. On it. Good luck." The call was short and the two twin sisters made immediate eye contact.
"They found the facility. The police along with several hero agencies are staking it out and will search the premises. If you have a connection to get there, now would be the time to do so," Kalama spoke to the three boys who were feeling jittery from nerves.
"Y-Yeah. I got a friend that should be there," Katsuki spoke with icy chills of anxiety running down his spine. Shoto and Shinso watched him while fidgeting, waiting for the right moment to prepare. "iSpi, call Deku." The world seemed to move in a blur for everyone as Katsuki gathered the information from Deku, realizing that the Doctor's facility was underground and adjacent to the main building...meaning that once UA crew arrived, they would have to immediately divert towards where you were being held.
"We have two minutes before they breach the facility...it's time to take the syringes," Katsuki announced to the others. Shoto, Shinso, and Katsuki reluctantly grapsed the vials with thick needles at the end.
"Want me to do it for you guys? I used to go to nursing school," Kiana offered. The boys all agreed and rolled up their sleeves, only to feel a sharp stinging sensation in the soft spot of their inner elbows. "There, that should do it." Not even a moment had passed when a GPS notification popped up on each boy's visor from Deku's watch...the time to finally come and save you just a screen away.
"Okay...we're only gonna get one shot at this so none of you fuck this up! Especially you, Icyhot!" Katsuki gritted with fear in his voice. He was so terrified of failure in this moment...he had to try harder than ever.
"Focus on yourself!" Shoto chided back. "She was able to see the places she wanted to go to and activate her quirk based on eyesight and willpower...let's hope we can do it."
With matching ruby eyes, the three boys activated Vanish...and reappeared next to Deku's side. as he stepped away from Mirio and the other heroes. When the initial shock and awe of the moment had passed, Katsuki patted Deku on the back and quickly sprinted with the others towards the small shed-like building that had a massive underground web.
"I'm coming baby! I'm coming. I'll fucking save you if it's the last thing I goddamn do!" With his heart pounding in anticipation and excitement, Katsuki was ready to do anything necessary to save you.
Even if it meant breaking all hopes of ever becoming a pro-hero like his idol All Might.
~~
A/n
Long chapter today!
How do we feel about Dabi??
And the boys are breaking some hardcore rules to try and save (y/n)...what do y'all think will happen?
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Thank you to dokidokikat for this AMAZING fan art!! I am blown away by the amazing talent that you guys have! Thank you so much!
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Happy Wednesday!
-v4k