WARNING: MENTIONS OF KIDNAPPING AND EXTREME VIOLENCE IN THIS AND UPCOMING CHAPTERS
Three weeks passed and now it was the day Mariko was going to get "abducted" by the league of villains. Of course, Keigo hadn't been able to sleep at all that night; his mind kept him tossing and turning as it went over the worst-case scenarios. For her sake, he was keeping his emotions in check, but every fiber of his being wanted to just sweep her in his arms and run away to someplace where no one would find them.
Mariko on the other hand, acted like absolutely nothing was wrong. She went about her days as usual; her steps didn't falter, and her fingers didn't twitch nervously. Despite her confident demeanor though, she too was worried. Anything could happen on a mission just under normal circumstances, but this mission wasn't exactly "run of the mill." She couldn't show Keigo she was scared though; he was already struggling with the whole ordeal. If he knew that she was also struggling then they might fall apart and Mineko Shimizu might win. So, for both of their sakes, she pretended she was fine. "I'm gonna go out for a while. We're out of chicken and a couple of other things. I should be back in a few hours," she told him grabbing her purse.
He knew what would happen once she walked out those doors, and although he'd tried to prepare himself mentally, his heart hadn't exactly caught up yet. "Wait!" he exclaimed, launching himself at her.
The brunette turned to him; an eyebrow raised. "Did you want something specific?" she asked, still referring to the grocery store.
Keigo shook his head. "You're not coming back," he said.
She sighed. He was right, she wouldn't be back in a couple of hours. Actually, she probably wouldn't be back for a few days.
"At least say goodbye before you go."
Mariko walked towards him purposely and hugged him. She squeezed him as tightly as she could without hurting him and buried her face into his chest. She breathed deeply, inhaling his scent and trying not to think about how this could be the last time she got to be this close to him. After a moment, she pulled away slightly and looked up at him. Her eyes bore into him as she tried to memorize everything she could about him: the flecks of gold in his honey-colored irises, the almost invisible spray of freckles across his nose from being out in the sun, his seemingly untamable hair. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him, committing to memory how his lips felt on hers, how feverish she felt when he touched her and how she never wanted it to end. "I love you. I'll be back before you know it," she assured him.
Keigo rested his forehead against hers. "I love you too. So much Mari it hurts. I love you," he repeated.
The brunette sighed deeply, adding that to her memory as well. She kissed him one last time and shot him a brief smile before exiting the apartment.
Mariko had barely made it five blocks from her building when she was suddenly yanked off the street into an alleyway. It was broad daylight, but no one had noticed.
Naturally, she fought back against her captors, but she already knew who it was. she could even feel the coolness of one of Kurogiri's portals behind her as she struggled. Her attacker kicked her knees out from under her, causing them to buckle and sending her crashing to the ground. Her head smacked against the asphalt, disorienting her completely before she was dragged through the portal.
As she was blinded and gagged, Mariko said nothing. The division had trained her to maintain silence in the event of an abduction since there was no telling what kind of information they were looking to get out of her. If Mineko started asking questions about how they managed to subdue her, the fewer lies they had to tell, the better. She had to act as though this was a legitimate abduction and she didn't know anything about her circumstances.
She knew she was being moved, but thanks to that hit on the head and being transported via portal, she couldn't place her surroundings until she heard the distinct metallic click of a large truck being closed.
"We got split up, the crazy girl and Kurogiri are in another truck. You can stop being so fucking quiet now it's annoying as shit," Dabi's familiar voice echoed in the empty space.
"The less I say, the easier it is for you."
"Too damn bad because I want answers. Or do you want me to torture them out of you?" he threatened.
Mariko could barely make out the blue light of his fire as it flickered in his hand. She definitely felt the heat of it though, her skin stung slightly even through her winter clothes. "Is it about your not so glamorous past?" she questioned.
"Watch your fucking mouth before I burn your tongue off."
"Do that and we'll all be screwed. Remember you're relying on me to keep her distracted while you guys do the mission."
"Tch."
"...So? What's your question?" she asked, a bit amused by his sudden silence.
"How do you know me? Don't give me that "connections" shit again or I swear to god I'll kill you right now. Screw the mission. I'll burn you to a fuckin' crisp."
Mariko sighed at his aggressiveness but nodded. "Saying I know you is actually a bit of a stretch. I saw you once... seven or eight years ago at the HPSC training facility. You were unconscious at the time. Burns covered your body completely, you looked like absolute shit," she told him. "My quirk is complete cellular manipulation, so they asked me to heal you. Sometimes, when I use my quirk on people, it leaves something like a watermark and if I ever see that person again, my quirk responds to the cells I manipulated in them. That's what happened when I saw you again, it was dumb luck I was able to tell who you were," she explained.
"Why were you there?"
"I was there as a recruiter. The department I work for was considering doing a trade-off between trainees. You were the one we were considering requesting and I was the one in charge of doing the final evaluation."
Dabi growled lowly at her. "So she's the reason things ended up like this." "You said no," he spat out venomously.
"That's correct."
"Why? Who the fuck let you decide that I couldn't do it? You don't know shit about me!" he shouted.
Mariko felt an intense wave of heat roll over her and she knew his whole body was on fire now. "They told me about you. I heard Endeavor wasn't all he was cracked up to be and that he beat you and your mom up sometimes. I heard that you talked to your mom and your siblings every single day and you were a bit of a crybaby sometimes, only in private though. I heard that you were in trouble often because you were constantly looking out for the younger trainees. You were a good kid, I wasn't going to put someone like you in the division."
The heat was almost blistering now. "Look what your decision brought me! You act like you saved me? You didn't do shit! Look at where I've ended up because of you! I could've escaped but because you decided to take pity on me- You've created a monster. A villain."
Mariko sighed. "They always say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence."
"You really wanna tell me a fucking riddle when I'm this close to turning you to ash?"
"You've never been in the Division, so how do you know you'd've been better off there? Yeah, you would've escaped your father and you would've been pulled out of the HPSC program, but it ain't cheap. You would've left behind your family, your morality and values, your right to choose, your humanity, and your freedom. You'd become a mindless soldier. Tell me, Todoroki-san, if I told you to, would you go right now and kill your mom, your brothers and sister for me no questions asked?"
"Don't try to deflect your shitty ass decision and its consequences on me," Dabi growled angrily.
"I'm guessing your answer is no then."
"Even if it was. That's not a possibility."
"Really?" she asked, letting out a short, bitter laugh. "The woman we're planning killing? That's my sister, and the guy that's using me as a human sacrifice is my brother... so you'd be surprised at the shit we go through here. Maybe you have no problems hurting people now, but back then there's no way you'd be doing what I'm doing now if our roles were reversed. I had nothing to do with you becoming a villain. That was a choice you made with knowledge of your situation and options. Whether you regret it or not is on you. So, the day you can tell me you have no problems killing the only people you still care about in this world... that's the day you can bitch to me about becoming a villain. So until then, shut the fuck up.
The heat died and a silence fell between the two of them. She could feel Dabi's stare boring into her. It didn't carry the same hostility that it did before though. It still had a certain weight to it, but it was different now.
"That was a shitty of way of looking out for someone. Next time don't do it half-assed," he said quietly.