Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

What was that insistent ringing?! Dabi sat up trying to find the source of the sound but when he did, he didn’t recognize anything around him. “What the fuck?” He looked around the room rubbing his eyes. He had to be dreaming. He was in…a dorm room? Dabi slowly moved out of the bed looking around the room. There were clothes he didn’t remember buying, actually everything in this room he had no knowledge of ever buying or owning.  “What the hell is going on?” He walked to the door and flung it open looking out into the hallway.

A few people were walking by in U.A.’s uniform, some faces looked towards him, but they continued on their way as if this was completely normal. Completely normal for a villain to be inside your damn dorms! What the actual hell is going on? He pulled his burner phone out to contact Shigaraki, but he realized he didn’t have pockets. Dabi looked down, he was wearing flannel pajama bottoms. “This…is not my style.” He mumbled.

“Dabi.” He quickly looked to the left seeing Shigaraki standing there, he wasn’t wearing all black for once which was a shocking to Dabi, instead he wore the school uniform.

“What the hell are you wearing?” Dabi hissed. This is a new level of weird.

“You’ve been passed out for an entire day since we arrived.” Shigaraki shook his head sighing. “Get inside we need to talk.” Shigaraki reached out and pushed Dabi backwards making him stumble back into the dorm room closing the door behind him.

“Shigaraki what the hell are we doing in U.A. High? Was this some new plan of yours—”

“I don’t know.” Shigaraki cut him off. “Yesterday morning I woke up in the school nurse’s office. Just as confused as you.”

“What do you mean? Why are we here?”

“If you would just shut up and listen.” Shigaraki sighed and sat down on the bed. “Supposedly I hit my head pretty hard in training yesterday and that’s why I was in the nurse’s office. I started asking questions obviously, but I learned quickly to close my mouth and just do my own research. That’s how I found out you were here.”

“Slow down for a second. What do you mean here? Where is here?” Dabi walked over to his closet and opened it, he saw his own clothes and a few uniform shirts and pants hung up.

“We’re students at U.A. High. In the hero course.”

“Bullshit.” Dabi laughed. “This is a great prank, you got me good. So, tell me how we managed to get inside this school. Don’t they have under lock and key thanks to you?”

“Dabi…” Shigaraki stood up and pulled a phone out of his pocket. “Just look here alright? I also managed to get your papers you applied here with…we’re in the same class together. Seniors.”

“What?” Dabi reached out and took the phone. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be looking at, so he just started clicking around on the device. Then…he saw. He found the photos. Photos of him…and Shigaraki, other people he didn’t recognize, even the class 1-A brats they had fought during their training camp. “Shigaraki.” Dabi looked at him, meeting his gaze.

“Do you get it Dabi? We’re enrolled in U.A and on the path to be heroes. In a different reality.” Shigaraki frowned and pulled a folded-up piece of paper from his pocket handing it over to him. “By the way your name isn’t Dabi here.”

Dabi snatched the paper quickly unfolding it. His photo was on it and next to it his information. His full name for the entire world to see.

“Congrats on having the number two or I guess now he’s the number one hero…as your father.”

Dabi felt his blood run cold as he let the paper fall to the floor. His secret was out and…they weren’t in their own world anymore. How was he supposed to wrap his head around this? Someone kill me now so I can wake up. I beg you.

Chapter Text

Dabi was still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened in the past eight hours. People came up to talk to him like they were casual friends or some crap asking how he was feeling and if he had recovered from his cold. Shigaraki had told everyone he had a cold and was bed ridden so when he walked out in the hallways earlier to explore the dorms everyone was shocked to see him looking better already. He didn’t like it and constantly walked off trying to get away from them as fast as possible. He wanted to be alone. He needed time to think and comprehend everything that was going on.

I need to do research this is too much to take in at once!  Shigaraki told him that they needed to blend in before he left for class earlier. To try and pretend to be who they were here. I have no fucking idea who that is idiot! He felt miserable. Why is he so damn calm about all of this? He’s taking it much better than I am…maybe that’s why he’s the leader of the league.

It was afternoon and classes had just let out. Dabi saw people coming back inside the dorm and he high tailed it for his dorm room trying to remember where it was. He had gotten lost in the place exploring.

“Dabi where are you going?” Dabi shot a glare towards Shigaraki seeing him walk inside the dorms now. He couldn’t just tell him out in the open what he was doing and where he was going. People were already looking at him a little weird. “Here let’s get you back to your room so you can rest you probably still have a fever.” Shigaraki was good at acting. It made Dabi envious. He let Shigaraki guide him down the hallway away from everyone.

Once they were out of earshot of everyone, he looked at Shigaraki. “I need to do research.” Dabi muttered. “How are you okay with all of this? Why is your name different here? I can’t get used to calling you anything but Shigaraki.” He had asked someone what class Shigaraki was in two hours ago, so he had an idea of what their class schedule looked like and they looked at him like he was crazy having no idea who he was talking about until he started to explain. Tenko Shimura. Is what he was told, and they asked if he hit his head too laughing at him until he walked away.

“Your name is different as well Dabi.”

“And if one more person calls me fucking Touya I’m going to scream.” Dabi grumbled.

“Look why don’t we go to my room and I can pull up everything I’ve found online about this world.” Shigaraki offered to him.

“No just leave me the hell alone alright? Let me do my own research.” He picked up his pace recognizing where he was at now, his room wasn’t that much further away.

“Sure.” Shigaraki sighed. “Just…try not to lose your damn mind alright? I’ll come by to check on you later.” He turned away to walk to his own dorm room.

“Wait…what are you going to do?” Dabi questioned.

“Research.” Shigaraki shrugged and gave a short wave disappearing down the hallway and out of sight.

Dabi let out a sigh and continued walking to his room pulling out the key to unlock his door. As he approached someone was standing there waiting for him. Please go away. I don’t want to talk to you. Especially you.

“Touya dad wanted—”

“Fuck off.” Dabi hissed and unlocked his door. How the hell am I supposed to act as a brother? It’s been years! Fucking years since I’ve seen my family and now my youngest sibling is here! I have to see him everyday that I’m trapped here?!

“Someone’s in a foul mood.” Shoto muttered.

“Just…leave me alone alright?” Dabi let out a sigh. He was never close to his brother he wasn’t even sure how close they were in this world.

“Then next time answer our father when he calls you. I don’t like to be bothered by him either in case you forgot.” Shoto narrowed his eyes at Dabi.

“Sure whatever.” Dabi walked in his room and quickly shut the door locking it behind him.

Thank god I have a computer. Dabi walked over to the laptop and opened it up. “Password? Seriously?!” How was he supposed to know the password? What am I like here? What would I even…damn it! He hung his head racking his brain for every possible password he could think of. After the tenth try he was about to give up when he typed in password and it opened the desktop loading. “Really? I used password as a password? What am I five?” He shook his head and started exploring everything he had on the thing.

“Photos…emails…” It looked like his closest friend here was Shigaraki. They had taken a lot of photos together and there were some with some other kid he couldn’t remember the name of. Purple haired dude. Dabi didn’t look happy in most of the photos, never smiling. “At least my personality isn’t that different I’m guessing?” He clicked through emails there were a lot from his sister. He quickly read through them and his own replies. “So…I’m close to her?” It looked like that was the one sibling he talked to on a daily basis.

Make sure you’re keeping an eye on Shoto! He really admires you in case you forgot. He read the last sentence in an email from her and shook his head. “What’s our father even like here?” He typed in his father’s name into the search bar looking at news articles of everything he had done, he read about when he became the number one hero after All Might retired.

“All Might defeated All For One…Nana hospitalized…finally being released.” He froze reading the next paragraph. “She can finally be reunited with her family? Nana Shimura? Wait what? Shigaraki is…” He looked at the date. “Five years ago? Then this happened…before I even enrolled here? He’s the grandson of a hero?” Dabi sat back and closed his eyes his head was spinning.

Five years ago, All For One and All Might fought, All Might defeated him once and for all, but it came with a price. He was injured and slowly weakening so he choose a successor of his power. Name unknown. Endeavor has stepped up as the number one hero and starting next year his eldest son will enroll in UA. There was so much, everything here was so different from his own timeline.

A knock on his door sounded and Dabi tensed waiting to see if they knocked again or went away. “Dabi it’s almost seven open the door.” Shigaraki. Had that much time passed by? Dabi got up and walked to the door opening it.

“You missed dinner…how’s the research going?”

“You’re the grandson of a hero.”

“I know.”

“All For One is gone…there’s not a big group of villains, the world is pretty peaceful besides small groups that cause a ruckus. There’s no big group like…us.”

“I know…it’s not a bad world I guess.” Shigaraki shrugged. “Can I come in?”

“You lied about so much to us. Why? This may be a different world than our own, but my past is still the same which means yours is too.”

“It is and I didn’t lie I just…didn’t tell anyone not that I remembered most of it myself. But if you’re going to pull that you lied about who you were as well. No wonder you had such a grudge against Endeavor.”

“I still do.” Dabi frowned.

“I wonder if the you here did though…makes you wonder huh? What we were like before we got shoved here?”

“Well it doesn’t look like I was happy here either. I’m surprised I didn’t go rouge here and enrolled in a hero course instead.”

“It probably has to do with the small differences in your life here and…it’s not like there’s some big group you could run off to.” Shigaraki told him.

Dabi nodded his head still trying to wrap his mind around everything. “So what are we going to do? How do we get back?”

“Dabi.” Shigaraki shook his head. “I didn’t send us here. I don’t even know how we wound up here so as of right now there is no going back.”

“So we’re just supposed to accept the reality we’ve been given?”

“I…I don’t know.” Shigaraki frowned. “You think I like looking at everyone’s smiling faces? Seeing that damn kid and not wanting to strangle him? This isn’t just hard on you. It’s hard on me too.”  

“I’m not saying it is I just…I don’t even know how I’m supposed to act! I have all these negative feelings built up inside of me and I don’t know what to do with them! I’m supposed to be the one burning people alive and fighting for our new world we wanted to create and now I’m here and supposed to be a hero? Like what is this shit?” He started laughing a little. I’m losing my mind!

“Well…I’m here and…we’ll get through this together that’s all I can say. We don’t have anyone else and we’re the only ones here that remember our own reality.” Shigaraki started scratching his neck.

“We still have the same quirks…” Dabi noted to himself as he watched Shigaraki tear into his flesh. “I’m not as burnt as I was in our world, but I’m still burnt which means even after learning at this school my quirk is still the same. Has it evolved any is the real question.”

“The weekend is coming up we can go somewhere and practice our quirks, see what difference they have here.” Shigaraki offered. “I also want to look around the city…see if anyone else somehow got shoved here as well. Maybe if we go to our old hideout we can see if anyone is there.”

“Alright.” Dabi gave a short nod.

“Dabi?”

“What?”

“I’m glad it’s you that I got stuck with.”

“Really?” Dabi chuckled. “What’s so special about me?”

“I…I don’t know but it makes me feel a little better knowing that no matter what timeline I’m forced into, you’re still here with me…by my side just like before.”

“Huh…I didn’t think of it that way. I wonder how we met here…we need to explore that as well.”

“Sure maybe at my house…or yours we’ll find more information on everything. Your brother here might be able to give us some information as well.”

Dabi cringed at those words. “Don’t call him that please.”

“What? Your brother?” Shigaraki smirked. “I think it’s sweet. I have an older sister. Did you know that? She’s still alive here…she died in our other world.”

“Good for you?” Dabi rolled his eyes. “If you want to talk to my brother be my guest but I want no part in it. He was waiting for me at my damn door earlier today. Creepy as hell.”

“He’s your brother it’s not creepy.” Shigaraki laughed a little. “Anyway…I’ll head out I just wanted to make sure you didn’t lose your mind in here.”

“I lost my mind years ago man.” Dabi waved him off. “Oh wait a second…there’s that purple haired kid in some photos of us. Is he our friend here?”

“Shinso? Yeah seems like it. We have a group chat with him, have you not looked through your phone yet?” Shigaraki held his own phone up.

“No…haven’t thought about it guess I’ll do that next.” Dabi sighed. If I can find it.

“Take a break and get some rest. We do have class tomorrow and I assume you’ll be going since you were out in the dorms today. People probably assume you’re over your cold now.” Shigaraki told him before leaving pulling the door closed behind him.

“Yeah like I can really rest when I’m in this damn place.” Dabi sighed and sat on his bed looking around the room. How is he supposed to get used to this? How is he supposed to accept that this is his reality now? I really might snap and go crazy here.

Chapter Text

The weekend couldn’t come fast enough. Hell, Dabi didn’t even know what day it was and here he was complaining about the weekend. He just wanted more answers, he wanted to understand himself better. It frustrated him that Shigaraki was taking this all so well. At least…that was the air he gave off.

If I had my cellphone, I could learn more about myself damn it! Where is it? He hunted and searched all over the place last night but could not it. He had to have one so where the hell was it?

“Dabi.” He heard the voice through the door and quickly walked over to it opening it. “It’s going on noon so I’m assuming you’re skipping class?” Shigaraki sighed and walked inside the room closing the door behind him.

“What? Noon?” Dabi looked around for an alarm clock or something but there was nothing. Only his laptop. “Well I don’t have an alarm and I don’t know where the hell my cellphone is so not my fault I slept this late. I’m not used to having to be up by a certain time anyway. We did what we wanted before.” He crossed his arms over his chest narrowing his eyes at Shigaraki.

“Yeah I get that but we have to blend in Dabi.” Shigaraki groaned. “Today’s Friday so tomorrow we can go out and see if we can find anyone else.”

“And test out our quirks?” Dabi questioned creating a small blue flame with his hand.

“Yeah and that.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed. “I’m going to see if I can find any recordings of the school festival from last year. We were in it so that should give us an idea of what we do with our quirks and how we use them.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to class.” Dabi shook his head. “Why don’t we just ditch this place and try and find a way back?”

“And go where exactly?” Shigaraki raised an eyebrow. “Nothing we know is the same here. Not to mention most of the people know us as UA students.”

“I don’t know, anywhere but here.” A knock on the door startled them both and they stared at it.

“Are you going to answer it?” Shigaraki finally asked.

“I guess I have to.” Dabi rolled his eyes and walked over to the door pulling it open.

“Got your phone.” The guy from the photos, the one with purple hair was standing there holding out a phone towards Dabi. “I replaced the back on it so pay up.”

“Shinso?” Shigaraki came up to the door now.

“This is where you vanished to.” Shinso sighed. “Thought we were going to meet for lunch.”

“My phone?” Dabi reached out slowly taking it from him.

“Yeah and your dad called like fifty times so you know. You were supposed to come get it yesterday.” Shinso told him.

“He’s been sick.” Shigaraki explained.

“Well get better. Class is about to start up again, lunch is almost over. I’ll get my money from you later.” Shinso turned and walked away giving a small wave as he vanished down the hallway.

“Found my phone.” Dabi held it up to Shigaraki smiling. “Thank god there’s not a password for it.” He swiped the screen seeing how it unlocked without anything else needed.

“Congrats. I have to get back to class. I’ll see you at dinner we can make our plans for tomorrow then.” Shigaraki hurried to leave.

“What you’re leaving already?” Dabi frowned.

“Yes, I’m trying to do what the me here normally did in this time. You should attempt to as well before people start to wonder what’s going on with you.”

“Easy for you to say I have no idea who I was here.” Dabi grumbled and Shigaraki shrugged leaving.

If I didn’t know better, I would say you enjoy being here Shigaraki. Dabi shook his head trying to clear the thought away. No way he liked it here, they were meant for the life they had prior to this. Villains to the end.

Dabi closed his door and locked it before sitting back down on his bed. He started skimming through text message conversations. It looked like he always gave one word replies most of the time. In the group chat he didn’t talk much either. It looked like Shigaraki was always the one to start a conversation with him as well. “This is not the Shigaraki I know. He’s so…happy?” Dabi was confused. The Shigaraki from this time period was happy, was excited about being a hero, and quite the talker according to his text messages. “Okay…so who am I?”

Dabi continued to go through messages. He found ones to his siblings. There was a sibling group chat titled Fuck Dad that it looked like he had started. So…when Shoto was born dad took the heat off me and put it on him that didn’t change…looks like we all live in another house though and dad lives by himself for the time being?

Touya how is school going?! Dabi looked at the new message that popped up. It was from Natsuo.

Shoto: He’s been skipping class and I’m assuming lost his phone.

Natsuo: He lost his phone?! What? That’s like his lifeline!

I have my phone. Dabi typed a message. It was weird…it was so fucking weird he couldn’t wrap his head around it. The last time he had ever spoken to them…he couldn’t even remember. In his own timeline he had never even spoken to Shoto until he was a villain. He never got to see his brother grow up, he was long gone from home by then. This felt surreal. Like he was in a dream.  

So he speaks. Shoto placed an eyeroll emoji at the end.

Why are you skipping school? That’s worrying Touya you seemed so dedicated the past few months. Fuyumi finally messaged the chat.

Have I been? Maybe he could work this in his favor. Pry information from them if he worded everything carefully.  

Natsuo: Uh yeah? Bro what’s wrong with you? You even have a job lined up when you graduate this year!

He does?? Fuyumi and Shoto both sent the same message. “I do? Please explain Natsuo.” Dabi mumbled seeing that Natsuo was typing.

Natsuo: Yeah he was going to be Hawks sidekick they haven’t officially announced it yet. Touya obviously isn’t going to work under dad so he chose the closest thing to the number one hero.  

“I did what?! No way in hell am I going to work with that asshole! We don’t even have anything in common what the hell?!”

Ah that makes sense since Dad was working with him anyway in the past. Are you going to try and create your own agency one day? Fuyumi questioned.

“No I don’t want any part in this bullshit.” Dabi refused to respond reading what they were saying instead.

Shoto: I thought you were going to do something with Shimura? That’s what you were talking about last week at least. Or did you change your mind?

Natsuo: What? Why didn’t you tell me Touya? I’m hurt :(

Honestly I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing can we just drop this? Dabi had read enough. He obviously was close to his siblings and the version of himself here had plans to do some type of hero work which just infuriated him. He hated heroes.

Fuyumi: Shimura…I have a lot of faith in him. He’s going to take over Nana’s office right? I saw something in the paper about it. He’ll make a great hero. Are you guys coming home for the weekend?

I’ll be there. Natsuo send a thumbs up.

Shoto: Probably not.

No. I have plans this weekend sorry. He tried to not sound like so much of an ass he was sure the version of himself here did care for them.

Fuyumi: Well have fun and be safe!

Dabi moved on to the next text messages. There were so many from his father and it looked like he never responded to him so they just built up constantly. A few from just Shinso and then a shit ton from Shigaraki. It seemed Dabi had changed his mind and decided to go with Shigaraki just like Shoto was saying. They would work together to bring Nana’s agency back to life.

“I don’t think I can do this…it all just…seems impossible.” Dabi sighed. Sleep sounded like a nice idea all of a sudden.

Shigaraki made Dabi leave the dorm room for dinner dragging him down the hallway and out the door. “A lot of people that do stay here go home on the weekends.” Shigaraki informed him. “So it won’t be crowded.”

“Did you normally go home on the weekends? It looked like sometimes I did.” Dabi questioned looking at his phone while they walked do the cafeteria.

“Sometimes but not often.” Shigaraki shrugged. “I’m assuming you finally went through your phone?”

“Yeah and there’s no way I can pretend to act like the me from this world. Sure, he was still like me but…he wanted to be a hero? Like what is that bullshit?” Dabi shook his head.

“It’s weird how one little thing in your life can make a difference growing up. What happened differently for you?”

“Dad gave up on me a lot sooner and didn’t continue to push me which made me want to be a better hero than him…I’m assuming anyway because of a lot of the same shit happened so who knows what changed me. When are we leaving tomorrow? I’m dying to get out of here.” Dabi looked around a few people were in here eating, they didn’t give them a second look thank god.

“I was going to say we can head out at noon. We’ll have to take the trains.”

“Why can’t we just warp…god I hate this world.” Dabi grumbled. Their easy transportation was stripped away from them here as well.

“Dabi you got my money?” Shinso walked up to their table.

“Wait you just called me Dabi?” Dabi looked over at Shigaraki confused.

“Yeah it is your hero name.” Shinso rolled his eyes. “Plus, you punch anyone that calls you Touya.”

“…right.” Dabi frowned. “Uh how much do I owe you?”

“Twenty bucks.” Shinso sat down waiting patiently.

“Shigar—” Dabi stopped himself. “Do you have any cash?”

“Really?” Shigaraki rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet handing Shinso the money.

“What would you do without him?” Shinso raised an eyebrow at Dabi.

“Die obviously.” Shigaraki answered for him.

“You guys sticking around this weekend?”

“Kind of…we’re going out tomorrow.”

They continued to talk and Dabi tuned them both out staring at his phone as he googled more information trying to make more sense of this world.

“You know what’s weird?” Shinso grabbed Dabi’s attention by smacking his hand. “You both have been acting really weird almost like…you’re someone else.”

“What makes you say that?” Shigaraki asked.

“It’s like you’ve both forgotten everything. Did your head injury really mess you up or something? No idea what your excuse is though.” He looked back over at Dabi.

“What have we forgotten then dear Shinso?” Dabi rolled his eyes. Of course they would be different they weren’t the same people here. Why did we have to be friends with him? He’s just going to continue asking questions.  

“Tomorrow we were going to go to the mall together. To celebrate.” Shinso raised an eyebrow.

“Ah…yeah we’ll have to cancel on you sorry.” Shigaraki told him.

“Celebrate what?” Dabi was curious. Shigaraki shot him a glare.

“For you both finding jobs as soon as you graduate in two months. How could you forget that?” Shinso smirked. “Has your memory been wiped? Because trust me I would believe it right now. It was your idea to go Dabi.”

Shigaraki let out a long sigh. “You’ve caught us.”

What is he doing?

“It seems we’ve come from a different timeline so we have no memory of what has happened here.” Shigaraki shrugged.

“Really?” Shinso laughed. “And here I was being serious.”

“I am being serious right Dabi?” Shigaraki looked over at him.

“Obviously.” Dabi wasn’t sure what he wanted him to say. Did he really want to blow their cover this soon? Or was Shigaraki planning to use him? He couldn’t figure out his intentions and it frustrated Dabi.

“…I’m waiting for the joke to be over.” Shinso looked back and forth at them. “Okay wait are you two actually serious? There's no way.”

“Yes, but could you keep this to yourself?” Shigaraki smiled at him.

Shinso sat there staring at Shigaraki for a moment before laughing.“You are messing with me, nice joke. So where are you going tomorrow?”

“Into town, you can come with us if you want to.” Shigaraki shrugged.

“Nah…I’ll head home for once. Man, you two really had me for second.” Shinso chuckled.  

“It was a pretty good joke.” Shigaraki agreed.

“You’re both assholes.” Shinso shook his head.

“I’m leaving you two can keep chatting it up.” Dabi got up and left trying to find his way back to the dorm room and struggling. A lot.

“Stop forgetting where your room is idiot.” He groaned as he walked down a second hall that looked the same as the first. Where the hell am I now?

“Touya?” He froze and turned to see who was talking to him. “Why are you in the freshman dorm?” It was Shoto.

“Why aren’t you going home?” Dabi shot back. I’m in the wrong dorm?! Ugh!

“I have plans. Are you lost or something?”

“…possibly.” Better to be honest than for him to think I was looking for him.

“How can you never remember where your own dorm is?” Shoto sighed. “Follow me.”

At least he doesn’t seem surprised. I’m guessing the me here was direction challenged as well.

“Here.” Shoto stopped walking as they got closer to another dorm building. “Are you really going to work wit h Hawks?” He turned look at him worry on his face.

“No way.” Dabi shook his head.

“Then why did you tell Natsuo that?”

“At the time I thought it was a good idea. I’m good with staying with…Shimura.” Dabi had to watch him. He couldn’t let Shigaraki’s name slip again. “I’m calling it an early night. See you.”

He quickly ran into the building trying to get as far away from Shoto as possible. Why did Shoto care so much? Were they actually close in this life? Dabi groaned in agony. He had to figure out a way to get back and soon.

Tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some answers. Dabi walked into his room and collapsed onto the bed trying to shut off his thoughts.

Chapter Text

They were very far away from the school now and even farther away from the town they had taken the train to. Dabi figured they were lost somewhere in the forest, since they just kept walking further into it. Well he might not be lost but I sure am. Dabi looked over at Shigaraki as they continued walking. “Where are we going?” He questioned.

“As far away as we can get.” Shigaraki shrugged. “Your quirk is fire so I don’t want someone to see a shit ton of fire and run here to figure out what’s going on.”

“Yeah because the trees burning totally isn’t going to put smoke in the air.” Dabi rolled his eyes.

“I found a video of the school festival last year.” Shigaraki stopped walking and looked around. “This should be good.”

“And?” Dabi stretched his arms looking around to see what he could burn. He wanted to know if he still had as much fire force as he did in their other world.

“You won but there was one thing I noticed...” Shigaraki frowned when Dabi sent out a small burst of blue flames at a tree. “Can you wait before you start doing that?”

“No, I can’t, I don’t feel like myself anymore! I mean look at me.” Dabi motioned to himself. “Sure, I have some scars going on but I’m not all decked out like I was in our previous lives.”

“You want to be burnt to a crisp?” Shigaraki rolled his eyes.

“Maybe.” Dabi frowned and looked down at his hands. How did the Touya that was here prior to him feel? Did he make sure not to go overboard so he wouldn’t ruin his body more than he already had? “What did you notice?”

“You don’t use strong fire power unless you’re about to lose. I’m guessing your scars have come from pushing yourself a little too hard here. You don’t do it often.”

“Lovely, the me here cared about this face.” In a rush of anger, Dabi sent out a wave of blue flames watching it engulf everything in its path before sizzling out.

“Your hero outfit has a cooling feature built in, so it cools you down as you use your quirk.” Shigaraki told him as Dabi grabbed his arm in pain feeling the burning sensation flood through his body. He hadn’t felt that in a long time and he forgot how much it hurt when the steam had no where to be released from. “Your body wasn’t built for your quirk. In our other life what did you do to your body? I never understood how you used your quirk without batting an eye. Did it have to do with all those staples?”

“That’s none of your business.” Dabi smiled at Shigaraki. “What about you? Anything changed here with your quirk?”

“I don’t have to touch what I want to destroy it just has to be connected to what I do decay.” Shigaraki looked around seeing a plastic bottle laying in the grass. He leaned down and touched the grass watching as his decay slowly moved destroying the grass until it hit the bottle turning it to dust.

“Hm.” Dabi looked back down at his own hands.

“Dabi have you wondered what happened to the versions of ourselves that were here before us?” Shigaraki asked as Dabi walked over to a tree placing his hand on it. “Don’t burn the tree Dabi your little blast of fire probably already has people wondering what’s going on out here.”

“Haven’t thought about it, I don’t think I would like that version of myself anyway.” Dabi dropped his hand away from the tree. “I thought we came out here to practice our quirks what’s the point if I have to be careful?”

“You don’t wonder what happened to us to cause us to switch places like we did?”

“Do you?” Dabi raised an eyebrow.

“I do. I wonder…if they’re even…” Shigaraki shook his head. “Fine whatever fire away with all you got, get it out of your system.” He took a step back and motioned to the forest.

“You serious?” Dabi grinned and cracked his knuckles. “Finally, time for some fun.”

“Don’t look so worried, plenty of people have fire quirks.” Dabi assured Shigaraki as they sat down at a table outside of a small café in the city. “No way they’ll link it back to me.” Shigaraki just narrowed his eyes at him. “What? You said to fire away so I did.”

“I thought you would have kept yourself in check a little. You also smell like burnt flesh if that isn’t a dead giveaway, I don’t know what is.” Shigaraki sighed.

“What you worried I’ll turn into a villain here?” Dabi chuckled.

“Drink your coffee and shut up.” Shigaraki scowled. “We have two months until graduation, after that we’ll be working at a hero agency.”

“Or we could just you know…disappear and not do that. Were you able to find any of the other members?”

“I asked my grandmother if she had heard of Toga, she seemed like the safest to ask about since she had been in high school in our world.”

“True.” Dabi nodded his head. “Well what did she say?”

“She had never heard of the name before at any of the hero schools.”

“Really? Then Toga just doesn’t exist here?”

“No, she does.” Shigaraki shook his head pulling his phone out. “It took me a while to figure out what happened to her but…it looks like she’s honestly just a normal girl at a normal school. No hero school or anything like that.”

“What if she switched places as well? Are we going to go see her?”

“That’s the plan if you would finish your coffee.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes and put his phone away.

“I’m done, let’s go. We should hunt down Twice after this though. I’m curious about him.”

“Mhm.” Shigaraki didn’t sound enthused about the idea which confused Dabi. Don’t tell me…he actually likes being a hero and doesn’t want to connect to anyone else here? Dabi shuddered at the thought.

They stood at the front door of a house debating who should ring the doorbell. “I still smell like burnt flesh so I’ll wait at the bottom of the stairs.” Dabi finally announced and jumped back down to the bottom looking at Shigaraki expectantly.  

Shigaraki rolled his eyes and slowly reached out hitting the doorbell. They waited for someone to answer. After three minutes the door finally opened and a woman who resembled Toga stood there.

“Can I help you?” She looked annoyed having guests show up out of blue.

“We were wondering if someone named Himiko Toga lived here?” Shigaraki asked.

“That’s my daughter.” She narrowed her eyes at them. “What do you want with her? Did she do something stupid again? Himiko!” The women called.

A girl slowly appeared next to her mother looking at both of them. She looked different, her hair was down and she stood there with a blank expression on her face. Not full of life like she looked in their old world.

“Do you know who these people are?” She demanded from her daughter.

Himiko stared at them for a few minutes and finally the life came back to her eyes. “I saw them on tv, they go to school at UA.” She smiled. “Remember when—”

“That’s enough.” Her mother cut her off. “You both are from UA? What business do you have with my daughter?” She demanded.

Just as quick as the life had sprung back into Himiko’s eyes it vanished again and she stood there lifeless next to her mother.

“We just wanted to talk with her, we ran into each other a while back when her school toured ours. Remember?” Shigaraki looked at Himiko.

Confusion flashed across her face but then it was like she realized what he was doing. “Oh! Yes I do!” She smiled. “Thank you for your help when I got lost!”

Her mother looked miffed and shook her head. “Hurry up and apologize for causing them trouble, dinner will be ready soon.” Her mother finally left the doorway leaving them to talk.

“So…what do you want from me? My school never toured yours.” She frowned once her mother was out of earshot. It was like she was having an internal battle with herself on whether she should be happy or not.

“Do you not remember us?” Dabi stepped forward confused about what was going on. Did she really not switch places like they had?

“No I don’t…besides the tv…you had a fire quirk or something?” She tilted her head to the side and wrinkled her nose at him, obviously she could smell the scent of burnt flesh.

“She didn’t switch.” Shigaraki let out a sigh. “This means we really are the only ones Dabi.”

“Switch?” Himiko looked at them curiously.

“How come you don’t go to a hero school?” Dabi questioned ignoring Shigaraki.

“Hero school? I don’t have a quirk…” She mumbled and looked down at her feet.

“You don’t have a quirk?” Shigaraki’s eyes went wide.

A small smile started to form on her face and there was something behind her eyes that made Dabi freeze. His entire body felt cold from the look in her eye. “Nope.” She looked over at the tree, a small bird was sitting on a branch chirping it’s head off. “Wouldn’t it be nice to fly away from everything though? What if you could transform into something else and just disappear from everything you hated?”

“I would do it in a heartbeat.” Dabi told her. Her eyes went wide as she stared at him.

“Maybe…I would too. I should go, dinner should be ready.” She stepped back into the doorway.

“You should come check out our school one day.” Shigaraki told her. “It’s never too late you know.”

“I’m sorry…I don’t have interest in becoming a hero.” She shut the door then closing them off from her world.

“What…just happened?” Dabi questioned as they walked back down the street. “She still has her quirk, doesn’t she?”

“I’m sure she does.” Shigaraki nodded. “But…her quirk is not something many people would accept. Have you heard of quirk reform schools? Parents that don’t like their child’s quirk sometimes send their children off to these school and basically have it beaten out of them. They become too afraid to ever use their quirk again and go about life like a normal person pretending to never have had a quirk.”

“You think that’s what happened to her?”

“I’m ninety percent sure it did.” Shigaraki frowned and looked up at the sky. It was growing dark.

“Then…wouldn’t her parents be the real villains?” Dabi felt the anger surging through his body. “How can you do that to your own kid? No child should have to hear their unwanted and useless. God I just want to—”

“We gave her an option, maybe…we’ll see her again.” Shigaraki reached out grabbing ahold of Dabi’s arm trying to calm him down. “For now though…we should get back and treat your new burns.”

“Whatever.” Dabi grumbled but let Shigaraki lead him back to the school, the school he wished he could just burn to the ground. I really hate heroes. They don’t do their damn job. Hypocrites.

“What the hell happened to you?” Shinso asked staring at Dabi in horror at the fresh burns that Shigaraki was putting ointment on.

“He decided he wanted to test the limits of his quirk without his gear.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes. “Stupid idea.”

“Wow.” Shinso shook his head.

“I don’t have time to grab gear every time I want to blow off steam.” Dabi grumbled.

“True…” Shinso stared at him thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t it be cool if like you could create vents on your own body to release your steam out of?”

Dabi looked over at Shigaraki a grin forming on his face.

“Trust me he’s thought about it, but we’re not robots and that just sounds painful to do to a body.” Shigaraki shook his head giving Dabi a hard look.

“True.” Shinso nodded. “So, what else did you guys do today?”

“Hey wouldn’t he be useful in getting Toga to come here?” Dabi looked Shinso up and down.

“She can come of her own free will.” Shigaraki smacked Dabi’s arm and finally pulled away finished now.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing we just found this girl—” Shigaraki was cut off.

“With an awesome quirk but her parents refuse to let her use it, she looked so miserable.”

“That’s gotta suck. What’s her quirk?” Shinso asked. “A lot of people are afraid of me because of my quirk but I’ve never been forced to not use it by my family.”

Shigaraki looked at Dabi as if he was debating if they should say anything.

“She can transform into anyone she wants. I bet she could even use the other persons quirk if she trained hard enough.” Dabi told him not caring what Shigaraki thought.

“What? She can transform into anyone? Why would that bother her parents? That seems like a cool thing I mean…unless she had siblings and uses it as a prank. That would annoy a parent, I can see that happening.”

“Well…” Shigaraki sighed. “She has to drink the blood of the person she wants to transform into.”

Shinso stared at them a flash of shock fluttered across his face. Dabi couldn’t read his expression at all. Did Shinso want to take back what he had just said?  

“I can see why that would bother them…blood quirks are pretty rare though. If trained right they could be extremely helpful. Do you guys remember what happened three years ago? That man who had a blood type quirk was on the lose attacking heroes but his quirk was…”  

Dabi’s blood ran cold and Shinso’s voice faded away as he got lost in his own head. He was talking about Stain but…if the Stain thing had happened how come his self here didn’t react to it like he had in his other life? Was he really that damn happy here? Dabi wanted to punch himself, instead he stood up. He had heard enough. He need air, he needed to gather his thoughts on what could have changed him so drastically.

“Where are you going?” Shigaraki asked seeing the distress on Dabi’s face.

“I suddenly feel exhausted, going to go crash.” He hurried away from them both not wanting to hear the story Shinso was telling, it would only further anger him.

“Dad won’t stop asking about you Natsuo told me.” Dabi glared at Shoto standing in front of his door. He was in the way and didn’t look like he wasn’t going to budge. “He’s coming here tomorrow to see you. He said he has something very important to discuss with you, honestly he probably wants you to join his agency and not go with Shimura.”

“He has you so why the hell would he want me?” Dabi bit out.

“Because your powerful…hey what happened to you? Did you overuse your quirk again?” Shoto reached out to examine the new burns on Dabi.

“It’s none of your concern!” Dabi slapped his hand away. “Get out of my way alright?” He pushed Shoto by the shoulder out of the way and went into his bedroom slamming the door behind him quickly.

This world was starting to become too much, Dabi could feel his mind unraveling. I’m going to snap and go crazy here I can feel it I can—

“Dabi.” The voice shocked him and he turned to see Shigaraki standing in the doorway holding up a key to his room. “I have a key to your room.”

“Get out.”

Shigaraki of course didn’t listen but instead walked inside shutting the door behind him.

“What do you want now?” Dabi groaned glaring at him.

“I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine! Just let me have a moment of peace so I can forget where I am for a minute!”

“You’re not, no one would be fine in this situation.” Shigaraki suddenly wrapped his arms around Dabi pulling him into a hug. “Do you think I’m fine? I’m not, you know it’s weird…in ways yes, I don’t mind this world but then small moments like hearing about someone I hated come up and I remember everything and wish I could just go back. So, I understand. We’ll figure this all out but for now, one step at a time.”

Dabi didn’t say anything he was surprised Shigaraki was hugging him. This…is weird.

But he didn’t tell him to let go, he accepted the embrace and stood there letting the anger slowly dissolve from his body. He didn’t want to think about tomorrow, think about how he would want to murder his father on sight when he saw him, think about how Himiko looked miserable here, think about how everyone else here must have been suffering as well. He would never forgive whatever did this to them. Once he found out he would destroy it and this world. He swore his life on it.

Chapter Text

His dad was supposed to come and visit him today. That’s what Shoto had told him. Dabi highly doubted he would lie so he believed him. But Dabi knew there was no way in hell he could see his father. I want to murder him with my own two hands. I WILL murder him with my own two hands. This would be the perfect way to take his father down. He couldn’t shake that thought from his head. Here in this world, this Touya didn’t want to kill his own father, so he just dealt with it. He went through his life and possibly even spoke to his own father sometimes. Enji would never think that Dabi would attack him if he visited him.

No. Shigaraki would flip shit on you if you did that not to mention you’re surrounded by wannabe heroes and pro heroes. How dumb could you be? Dabi groaned and got up slipping on black jeans and found a black hoodie buried in his closet. He couldn’t stay here today. He also did not want to go to class. He glanced at the time on his cellphone. It was going on six in the morning. He never got up this early, ever. But today he had no choice, he was hoping to avoid everyone in the dorm. He needed to get out before someone asked where he was going or tried to stop him.

He quietly left his room and went down the hall finding his way to the front doors. He froze when he saw someone sitting on the couch. He wasn’t sure who it was but they didn’t turn or simply didn’t hear him so he quickly disappeared out the front door. He had never been on the campus at UA before so it took him a bit to figure out how to leave the giant ass place. He quickly hid behind walls when he saw someone walking, he waited for them to pass before continuing on.

Once he was free and out of the school walls, he let out a sigh of relief. He was free. He was finally free. As he walked down the street he knew exactly where he wanted to go. Should he go there? No, he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t stop himself. Why did he care so much about her? She hadn’t been switched like they had in this world so why did he insist on trying to drag her back to them? Because she’s fucking miserable. We’re all fucking miserable like this.

The sun was finally coming up as he got off the subway looking around, he wasn’t lost he just struggled a little with directions so it took him a good ten minutes to gather his bearing and find the road that lead to her house. Kids were already walking to school at this point, chattering together in their small groups as they rushed down the road.

It made his stomach twist as he grew closer, he could see Toga walking out of her house. How was he even supposed to approach her? He hadn’t thought about that and instead leaned against a wall debating what he should do or say.

“It’s you again!” She exclaimed as she walked closer and he blinked realizing he had zoned out for quite a bit.

“It’s me.” He yawned and shook his head. He was tired, sleep sounded so nice right now.

“Why are you back here?” She frowned and crossed her arms.

“Honestly? No idea.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Are you skipping school?” She tilted her head to the side. There was excitement flashing across her face almost as if she didn’t have friends or…finally something different was happening her life here.

“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes at her.

“I see…I have no interest in your school.” She shook her head at him. “I don’t want to be a hero. I don’t like them.”

“Me either.”

“What? Then why are you at a hero school?” She scoffed.

“No idea.” That was true as well, he had no idea what the Touya here was thinking.

“Huh…why don’t you just run away then?” She questioned.

“Why don’t you? You feel trapped here don’t you?”

“What…do I have to run away to?” She frowned. “There’s no where to go and…at least I have a roof over my head here.” It was like her mind went somewhere far away for a moment. Her eyes looked lifeless again. Dabi didn’t like that look.

“That’s true…you really don’t have a quirk?”

“Isn’t everyone born with a quirk?” She questioned and started walking, she looked behind her to see if Dabi would follow. When he did, he saw a small flash across her face before she continued walking.

“I’m sure there are a few people that are born quirkless.” Dabi told her.

“Maybe…hey, what’s the point of a quirk if it brings no use to anyone?”

“I’m sure you could find a way to make it useful to someone.” Dabi shrugged.

“Hm…” She bit her lip for a moment as she thought. “What do you want with me? It’s like you and your friend thought I was someone I wasn’t.”

“We were hopeful that you were someone we once knew.” Dabi saw no reason in hiding it and he didn’t have Shigaraki here to stop him.

“And who was that?”

“Well…just a girl that used to be part our of group. We weren’t that close honestly but…” Dabi shrugged.

“But what?”

“No point because you’re not her.”

“That’s rude.” She spun around and glared at him. “Do you really want to see my quirk?”

“Why not?” Dabi shrugged. He knew what her quirk was, the real question was how she planned to use it if she pretended to be quirkless here, didn’t that mean she didn’t have a blood supply?

“Hm.” She shrugged. “I haven’t used it since I was a little kid.”

“Why not?”

“I went to a school…my parents sent me there and I was instructed to never use it. To be normal. Everyone has to be normal but…you don’t look so normal honestly.”

“My quirk destroys my body.” Dabi explained.

“Blue flames…are pretty hot, aren’t they?”

“Hotter than normal fire yes.”

“Why would your parents want you to use it?”

“Because he’s an asshole.”

“Do you not want to use it?”

“I do. But not for reasons others would see a use for it.”

“Oh! Let’s get tea!” She pointed to a small café they were walking past. “Where’s your friend by the way?”

“Enjoying the hero life.” Dabi grumbled.

“You act like you didn’t apply to the school and work hard for what you have now. You even gave a speech on tv about how you wanted to be a hero during your school festival. You act like a completely different person in person. It’s weird.” She laughed and held the door open for him.

“I guess I just woke up one day and decided that I hated the path I choose.”

“I understand that.” She nodded grimly. “Hey, did you ever hear about that villain that attacked a city and went crazy? Some kids from your school helped take him down didn’t they?”

“I suppose so.” Dabi clenched his fist.

“I liked his quirk. He wasn’t afraid of what people thought…and he wanted to change the world.”

Dabi didn’t say anything as the tea was placed in front of them, he stared at the cup in anger. How did so many things change in this life? How did he get on the path that he was on?

“What do you want out of this world?” Toga questioned him.

“Change.” Dabi responded instantly. “I want to destroy it all and rebuild it to what it should be.”

She started to laugh. “You sound like a crazy villain, not the hero you’re training to be.”

“Maybe I am a villain.”

“Maybe you are.” They both stared at each other for a good minute, Toga was the one to break their gaze and went back to drinking her tea. “Okay I decided. I’ll show you my quirk, but to do that I’ll need your help.”

You’re not transforming into me. “You have to drink the blood of someone to transform into them right? You’re not transforming into me.”

“What!? How do you know that?” She exclaimed.

“I’m a mind reader.”

“Liar! Tell me!” She demanded.

“I’m just good at finding out about people’s darkest secrets.”

“You are evil.” She shook her head.

“I never said I was nice. You just assumed that.”

His phone rang then and Dabi sighed pulling it out. Shigaraki.

“Is that your friend?” Toga questioned.

“Yep. Probably wondering why I skipped school…again.”

“Why did you? To come and stalk me?” She gasped.

“No…my dad is coming today so I’m avoiding him at all costs.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because if I see him…I’ll want to murder him on sight.”

“Oooh…he made you upset I take it.”

“He destroyed my entire life so yeah you could say he made me upset.”

“Hm…I see. Well I should be going before my parents found out I’m skipping school.” She stood up and hurried out the door leaving Dabi to pay the bill a small laugh escaping from her lips as she vanished.

That’s just like you Toga. Dabi shook his head and got up and going to pay the person before making his way somewhere else. He doubted she would come to the hero school but…she might just reach out to him again. She had started to act like the Toga he knew in his old life the more he sat and talked to her. He wondered what happened to her in his old life, what set it in motion for her to ditch her life there and not here.

“Hello?” Dabi answered the phone call since it was the third time now as he walked down the street.

“Finally.” Shigaraki exclaimed. “Where the hell are you?”

“Does it matter?”

“…you’re hiding from him right?” Shigaraki let out a sigh.

“Was I that obvious?”

“Yep. Well…I’ll let you know when he leaves so you can come back…try not to get into any trouble out there.”

“Sure thing boss.” Dabi hung up and started to wander the streets as he used to do back in his old life.

He spent five hours wandering the city going into shops to look around, he was surprised no one tried to stop him and ask if he was supposed to be in school. Maybe it didn’t work like that he had no idea since this was his first school he had ever attended.

Dabi rounded a corner making his way back to UA. Shigaraki sent him a message saying his father had finally left so it was safe to come back. When he turned the next corner, he crashed into someone.

“Ouch…” The girl groaned and glared up at Dabi.

“My bad.” He shrugged, he didn’t have time for this and he didn’t really care to help her up. She should have been looking where she was going.

“That’s rude.” She shouted at him as he walked away.

“Your point?” He shot back but for some reason he stopped. Wasn’t she the girl that he had seen this morning?  But…she wasn’t dressed in a school uniform and she was holding a map. Can’t be the same person but she must be lost. Her eyes suddenly went wide as she got a good look at him and then slowly a small grin formed on her face. “Why…are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh? Oh no reason…hey you go to UA, right?”

How does everyone know that about me? I’m not wearing the damn uniform!

“I saw you on tv last year.” She explained. “Actually, I’m a little lost do you think you could show me the way?”

Dabi stared at her he had no reason to help her but if she so desired to follow him she could. “Whatever.” He turned back around and started walking leaving her in the dust. She had to run to catch up to him. It seemed she caught his drift about not wanting to talk so she lingered behind him the rest of the way there.

Once they entered the gates, he turned to look at her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks a bunch. Who knew you could be so nice?” She laughed and walked off in a direction Dabi didn’t know. He shrugged. He didn’t care where she went it didn’t affect him.

“Have a good day?” Shigaraki questioned when he walked back into the dorms.

“Totally.” Dabi rolled his eyes.

“Your father was pissed, even cornered me to demand where you were. Not that you would tell me.” Shigaraki shrugged.

“Seriously?” Dabi hissed. “God he’s a damn asshole.”

“It’s fine, no big deal.” Shigaraki reached out grabbing Dabi’s arm. “Let’s go to my room I can go over what you missed today.”

“Oh joy.” Dabi let out a long sigh.

“Also…I may have found some info on how to get back to our world.” Shigaraki whispered the last part and Dabi turned to look at him.

What? Did you find a way out? Or…did you figure out how the hell we even got here? Dabi picked up his pace walking faster to Shigaraki’s room. He wanted answers and fast. He practically drug Shigaraki behind him pulling him by the hand. He couldn’t wait another second for answers.  

Dabi didn’t notice the eyes that followed his every movement as he disappeared up the stairs and he didn’t notice the friend that tried to call out to them, a small frown forming on his face at the loss of the two friends that he thought he finally had.

Chapter Text

Dabi stared at Shigaraki as he paced back in forth in the dorm room still not saying a word. It was starting to grate on Dabi’s nerves. Why isn’t he explaining anything yet?! It had been ten minutes of pure silence. “Shigaraki are you going to tell me what the hell you found out or—”

“Look.” Shigaraki cut him off. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and research into this world we’re in and I’ve figured it out or at least I’ve partly figured it out.”

“As you said downstairs, so tell me already.” Dabi groaned.

“A quirk. Someone had to have used a quirk on us and either sent us to some other timeline, reality thing or…we’re in a dream?” He shrugged. “It has to be something like that which means if we find the person that put us here, we can go back to our old lives.”

“It can’t be a dream.” Dabi shook his head. “They would have to know stuff about us to place us in some fake world they created and no on knew shit about me. No one would have known my real name.”

 “Then we’re in an alternate reality of some sort on a different timeline. The real question is…who has a quirk like that?” Shigaraki sat down on the bed beside of Dabi. “I’ve been trying my best to do research of everyone in the school. I even spent the day doing that instead of going to class—”

“Wait you skipped class?”

“I felt it was more important to figure out how the hell to get out of here rather than attend classes to make me a hero I’m not.” Shigaraki shrugged.

“Hm I was getting the feeling you enjoyed this life.” Dabi hummed.

“Does it really matter if I do?” Shigaraki shrugged. “Question for you, what’s the last thing you remember before we came here?”

“The last thing I remember…” Dabi knitted his eyebrows trying to think. It was getting harder day by day to remember the life he had come from. He couldn’t even remember how he met Shigaraki. Stain, right? That’s what…brought us together. “What do you remember?” Dabi questioned as he tried to rack his brain for the last memory locked inside of him.

“I don’t really remember much…water…” Shigaraki let out a sigh. “Something happened after that but I just don’t know what…it’s like it was stripped away from me. I think the quirk has something to do with it. Almost like it’s slowly taking our memories away by being here.”

“I…if it is a quirk and someone put us here then that someone is probably close by us. They probably haven’t interacted with us…keeping their distance so we don’t find out.”

“Or they’re waiting for the moment to confront us about it.”

“Great now I have to hunt this person down without knowing a damn thing about them.” Dabi sighed.

“We’ll figure it out.” Shigaraki shrugged.

“Where did you get the idea that it was a quirk?”

“I just…thought of it? Almost like I remembered it in a way.” Shigaraki frowned. “I know you want to go back, that you feel like you’re going crazy here, so I’ll do everything I can to make sure that happens. Alright?” He turned his head and gave Dabi a small smile.

Dabi frowned but nodded his head. He didn’t understand the urge inside of himself to seek comfort from Shigaraki. Was it because he was the only one here? Because he was the only one that knew the situation and knew the real him that he felt such an odd pull to and wanted that comfort from him? It was weird and he didn’t like it so he shoved those feelings far away. It was better not to feel anything at all.

“I went and spoke to Toga more today.” Dabi told Shigaraki.

“Really?” Shigaraki let out a groan.

“Sorry I just…I don’t like seeing her like that alright? I was just trying to give her another option.”

“And what would that option be Dabi? You have to apply to UA to get into this school.”

“Not the school just…options. Like we can help her if she ever needs it…I don’t know.”

“Very hero like of you.” Shigaraki joked and stood up. “I should head to my room get some sleep. We’ll have to come up with a plan to hunt down this person. We can talk more tomorrow after classes.”

“Alright…sure.” Dabi walked over to the door with Shigaraki, still staring at him.

“What?” Shigaraki questioned.

“I…I don’t know.” Dabi let out a sigh and stepped away motioning for him to walk out the door.  

“See you tomorrow.”

“Mhm.” Dabi shut his door back and locked it once Shigaraki was gone and collapsed onto his bed. He pulled his phone out seeing the group chat with his siblings had blown up like crazy while he ignored his phone.

Dad is pissed at you. Couldn’t you have just at least said hi? Shoto had messaged.

Again? Fuyumi had answered.

He doesn’t have to say shit to dad stop giving him hell!

It causes me hell when he does this!

The argument between Shoto and Natsuo went on for a while with a few cut ins from Fuyumi at some points. Why am I reading this? I shouldn’t care…I’ll be free of this damn life soon anyway.

“You’ve been acting really weird again.” Shinso let out a sigh as he walked beside of Dabi outside on campus.

“What do you mean?” Dabi questioned. He wasn’t getting any better at this. Having to pretend to be his friend. It had been almost two weeks since Shigaraki thought he came up with an idea but they had zero luck on finding anyone with such a quirk. How do you pretend to be someone’s friend if you don’t know anything about them?

“You two just keep running off and doing your own thing, vanishing from the school and…” Shinso turned and looked at him. “Wait did you two finally get together?”

“Excuse me?” Dabi snapped his head towards Shinso confused.

“You two always had this thing going on.” Shinso shrugged. “I was just curious if someone finally made the move.”

“Thing?”

Shinso laughed a little. “Nevermind Dabi.”

“No I want to kno—”

“Dabi?” They both turned to look at who was calling him, they were near the front gates and there she stood a smile on her face. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to hunt you down!”

“Toga?”

“You know her?” Shinso looked at her confused.

“Yeah she’s…a friend.” Dabi walked over to her. “What are you doing here and why do you have a suitcase with you?”

“You inspired me.” She shrugged and looked over at Shinso giving him a small wave. “Not to come here, no way in hell would I do that.” She giggled. “But…I am going away.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“No idea! But I’m finally free and I’m never going back! I just had to tell you before I left. I’m just going to go wherever the wind carries me.”

“Well I…” Dabi frowned staring at her.

“What? Be excited for me! I’m going to go live how I want to live and stay far away from everyone and my family. So I wanted to thank you for giving me the push I needed.”

“I didn’t really do anything.” Dabi shook his head.

Shinso suddenly walked forward staring at her. “You’re…on the news.” He spoke slowly.

“Am I? Am I famous now?” She giggled. “Oh crap I should get going…maybe I’ll see you again Dabi.” She grinned and when she turned around, he watched as she slowly transformed into someone else. He froze in shock as he watched the person walk away.

“How did you meet her?” Shinso questioned quietly.

“Why is she on the news?”

“You haven’t heard?” Shinso frowned pulling his phone out. “You really don’t keep up with anything do you?” He pulled up the article.

Toga child wanted for the murder of her classmate and injury to others. If you see her or have any tips please call…

“Holy shit.” Dabi stared at the screen in horror. What did I do? Did I kick start this? Is this my fault? “We can’t tell anyone.” He quickly turned to Shinso narrowing his eyes at him.

“But she killed someone.” Shinso spoke slowly and took a step back confusion.

“She’s my friend and…I don’t…just let her start over alright? Plus, it’s not like we know where she went. What kind of useless tip would that be anyway?”

“I…” Shinso frowned as he stared out the gates.

“Hey guys.” Dabi turned to see Shigaraki walking over to the them. “You look…distraught?”

“We just came face to face with a villain.” Shinso told him.

“She’s not a villain.” Dabi sighed.

“I’m sorry what?” Shigaraki shook his head.

“Toga was here…she left home and is going off on her own…somewhere.” Dabi shrugged.

“Himiko Toga, the girl that’s been on tv for the past day.” Shinso told Shigaraki. “She killed a classmate and attacked others. She’s wanted.”

“…I see.” Shigaraki frowned. “Well…call the police Shinso.”

Shinso stared at Shigaraki for a moment and finally shook his head. “I don’t like it, whatever the hell you two are hiding from me. It’s like you’re not the friends I had.” He looked angry for a moment and then sad. “It’s whatever though you’ll be leaving school soon anyway. Not like it matters.”

“Shinso—”

“Fuck off.” He turned and walked away disappearing from sight.

“Shit.” Shigaraki huffed and then glared at Dabi. “What did you do? Did you give her ideas or something?”

“What did I do?” Dabi scoffed. “Obviously it’s the path she was meant for! Just like us, we’re not meant for this bullshit!” He exclaimed.

“Dabi that’s not—”

“Just shut up I can’t keep this up alright? I just can’t. I can’t be his friend! I know nothing about him, I say all the wrong things, and it’s just too much right now. We can’t even find the one fucking person we need to find so we can get out of this damn nightmare!”

“I know I’m—”

“I said shut up!” Blue flames exploded from Dabi’s hand and Shigaraki took a step back anger flashing across his face.

“Dabi don’t—”

“You shouldn’t fight on school grounds. You’ll only get suspended.”

The voice startled Dabi and he turned to see that girl. That same girl that he had to show back to campus two weeks ago.

“We’re not fighting.” Shigaraki shook his head watching her closely.

“Uh huh…I guess this world is becoming a little too much for you isn’t it?” She laughed and reached out wrapping her hand around Dabi’s wrist. “Why don’t I take you guys somewhere else for a bit?”

“What? Let go of me!” Dabi tried to yank away but just as he pulled, he was knocked back with incredible speed and next thing he knew he was falling on his ass in a patch of dirt.

“Wait right here, I’ll grab your leader.” He heard the voice but didn’t see her. Before he could even stand up on his feet Shigaraki was suddenly thrown down on the ground beside of him.

“What the fuck?” Shigaraki yelled and quickly got to his feet.

Dabi slowly stood unsure of what the hell had just happened.

“I can’t believe you guys ruined that perfect world I created.” She pouted her eyes sparkling like she had just won a game. “Do you guys even realize how much trouble I went through to get all the details right?” She scoffed.

“Wait…slow down.” Dabi held his head, he was starting to feel dizzy and very nauseous.

“Fine I’ll let you gather your bearings. It was kind of a quick ride huh?” She laughed. “Don’t worry I’ll fix this world right up and delete that scene in no time.”

“You’re the person.” Shigaraki’s eyes went wide as he stared at her.

“Why yes! I am.” She grinned and skipped around in a circle watching them both closely.

“You’re the one that put us here?” Dabi questioned trying to look at her but giving up sitting back down on the ground. He did not like this feeling, how the hell was Shigaraki still standing?

“I thought that was pretty obvious.” She smiled. “Not like it matters, I’ll have everything fixed in ten minutes and it’ll take you guys an hour to even find your way back. See you later!”

“Wait what?” Shigaraki tried to reach out and grab her but he only grabbed air as she disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“What…what the hell just happened?!” Dabi demanded. “And why aren’t you feeling sick as hell like I am?”

“You’re the one with motion sickness.” Shigaraki shrugged. “Also…looks like we have an answer. We’re not in another world…we’re in the world she created.”

“What does…that mean for us?” Dabi groaned wishing his stomach would settle. And how the hell did she know my name?! How did she know so much?! What is going on damn it!  

“I…I’m not sure…” Shigaraki frowned and looked around. They were somewhere in a forest and it was starting to grow dark. She hadn’t been lying. It would take them forever to figure out how to get out of here.

Chapter Text

Dabi was exhausted. His head was spinning as they approached the school gates. Instead of one hour, it took them two hours to find their way back to the school. It was like the entire walk had been a maze and the way they thought they knew was wrong. Every turn they took felt like a dead end. Nothing was making sense anymore.

“My head is killing me.” Shigaraki let out a long sigh as they stopped at the gates. “I know that first path we took was the right way back but I swear it’s like she shifted it, every time we thought we knew where we were, she shifted it all…”

“Is she working with someone else?” Dabi rubbed his temples trying to ease his growing headache. “There’s no way that this is just one single quirk. She can pretty much teleport us, shift the world to her liking, and she created this damn place?”

“I…I have no idea. Maybe she is working with someone but we don’t know how her quirk works. It could just be all her doing.” Shigaraki frowned and walked through the gates heading to the dorm. “She said she would fix everything, what do you think she meant by that?”

“Well considering I fucked up her perfect little world I’m going to assume she means with Toga and Shinso.” Dabi shrugged. “We need to find her again. She has to be a student here right?”

“I have a feeling she’s not.” Shigaraki shook his head. “If she created this place, that means she can come and go as she pleases. No one else probably even notices her. The real question is…are any of these people here real?”

“Well we can find that out really quick if you let me.” Dabi’s hand twitched, itching to burn something.

“Not…that way.” Shigaraki stopped and looked at Dabi thoughtfully. “What do you think would happen if we continue to purposefully mess up her world she created?”

“Well she would fix it I’m assuming. Whatever that means.”

“She might appear again if we continue to mess it up don’t you think?” Shigaraki questioned.

“I guess? Did we really need to be out of the way for her to fix whatever it was she fixed here? Or was she just being a bitch?”

“So many questions we can’t answer.” Shigaraki sighed and pushed open the doors to the dorm rooms. They stepped inside. It was quiet, a few people were walking to their rooms not paying much attention to them.

“About time you guys showed up.” Shinso’s voice rang out and they both looked over to see him walking towards them. “I was about to send out a search party.” He joked. “How’d the extra training go?”

“Extra training?” Dabi looked at Shigaraki confused.

“It went fine, exhausted though.” Shigaraki didn’t miss a beat.

“Sounds like it, at least tomorrow’s a holiday. Want to go out and grab lunch around one?”

“We’ll let you know.” Shigaraki told him. “I’m going to go hit the bed early.”

“Sure, get plenty of rest.” Shinso walked away then going to his own room.

“He…doesn’t remember anything from earlier does he?” Dabi questioned.

“Obviously not.” Shigaraki hummed to himself. “I want…to test something out but…”

“Test something out?” Dabi frowned.

“Let me think on it tonight and we’ll talk in the morning.” Shigaraki told him. “You can find your way to your room?”

“Of course I can.” Dabi narrowed his eyes and took off down the hallway.

Dabi couldn’t help but to toss and turn. His mind wouldn’t shut off and he kept thinking about everything they had learned today. He wanted to call her out, get her to come back and answer the new questions that were forming in his head.

This world is fake…everyone here might be fake.

Dabi let out a sigh and got up, he couldn’t sleep and it was pointless to try. After getting dressed he headed out of his dorm room going to down the hallway to the exit. He had no idea where he was going but he was going somewhere.

She…doesn’t like when we mess up her world so…why not do something else? I’m tired of sitting around and waiting. He knew where to go then. It was where his heart was going to take him no matter what. He couldn’t control the grudge that was burning a fire inside of him. It should only take him an hour to get there.

When the house came into sight and Dabi stood outside staring at the house. His hand twitched and he slowly lifted his hand up. It doesn’t matter what I do if this world is fake right? I can burn this entire world down if I so—

“Stop.” He flinched as the voice called out to him and slowly, she appeared in front of him. Almost like she was materializing out of thin air.

“This world is fake or some shit right? What does it matter what I do?” He raised an eyebrow and sent out a blue flame right at her. It went right through her and vanished not touching any part of the yard behind her. “What the fuck?”

“You wanted to find a way to call me out. I’m here…so talk.” She rolled her eyes.

“No you’re not really here. My fire just went through you what the hell are you?”

She laughed a little. “You’re in a world I created.”

“Yeah I go that much.” Dabi looked over at the house again. “Meaning no one else here is real correct?” He lifted his hand up the flames slowly starting to form around his hand. He saw a frown form on her face as he aimed his hand towards the house.

“Could you not make more of a mess for me to fix?”

“Why fix it? It’s all fake!” He laughed.

“It may be fake but if you die in this world…” She sighed. “Nevermind do what you want.” With those words she vanished.

Dabi stared at where she had been for a moment and then his phone rang. “Hello?” He placed the phone to his ear.

“Get back to the dorm Dabi.” Shigaraki sighed.

“What? How do you even know I’m gone?” Dabi rolled his eyes and shaking his hand the blue flames vanishing.

“She came here.”

“She? Who?”

“That girl.”

“Wait…she was just here…well that wasn’t a real her but…wait did she tell you anything?”

“About what you are trying to do.” Shigaraki hissed. “Seriously Dabi? You want to try and murder him? He’s fake so what would even be the point?”

“…it’ll get my anger out.” Dabi let out a sigh and started making his way back the he had come.

“I’m waiting for you outside, hurry up and get here. It’s freezing tonight.” Shigaraki hung up and Dabi let out a groan setting the mailbox on fire as he left the street.

Why can’t we just go fucking crazy and burn this world to the ground? Maybe it’ll free us if we do. No way she can just magically fix the entire world with the snap of her fingers…or does this city not extend further than what she’s created? Wait…shouldn’t we figure out how far this world goes on?

Dabi hummed to himself as he walked thinking over everything slowly. What did she mean…if we die?