Chapter Text
It hadn‘t rained this heavily in a long time or at least not since the florist could remember. To describe the current weather as a monsoon would sound too drastic, especially in this season of year, so we'll just call it a heavy weather.
(Name) sat on the wooden chair next to her shop's counter, as usual. She was impatiently tapping on the coated surface of the desk, having been lost in thoughts since the very morning. Two weeks had passed since Dabi's last appearance and she slowly grew sure of the thought she'd really never see him again.
But she was very wrong. So wrong that the fateful encounter she was going to have in only a few hours would turn her whole life upside down.
✧ ✧* . . ✧ *✧ ✧
The wet wind clashed violently against the windows and (Name) had the valid fear of them breaking any minute. She hurried outside the store to bring her shop sign into safety and almost couldn't open the door again since the storm had grown so strong over the last few hours. In the little time she'd been outside, her whole body became so wet she would have to go upstairs to change clothes.
But to the dismay of her health, she simply wasn't in the mood.
The woman stared at the equally wooden floor and the small puddle that had formed around her feet. Her hair was dripping and the wet spot literally sucked up the few drops that fell on the ground. (Name) didn't care about how her lip slowly began to tremble from the cold and soddenness and she also didn't care about the faint car honking noises that had started on the outside. The female sluggishly turned her head around to stare out of the window with a sad expression, the shifting colours of the traffic lights reflecting on her moist face.
Out of sudden, a huge burst of orange flames erupted on the outside, only for the florist to reflexively fall to the ground and brace her head. She panted fast as she heard the sound of breaking glass on the other side of the street and hesitantly looked up to see if anything of Ranunculus had been destroyed.
Fortunately this wasn't the case.
"I'm not finished with you!" a familiar voice shouted in the distance, followed by rapid footsteps making their way through the puddles of the streets. (Name)'s head shot up and when she saw Endeavor quickly run down on the asphalt, closely followed by Eraserhead. 'That‘s a combo you don‘t see quite often,‘ the florist thought as she hesitantly rose from the ground beneath. She wasn’t the type to care about heroes and their daily fights with villains, so she turned around to continue with her work-
"You better stop right where you are!“ A familiar male voice shouted and tore the woman away from her thoughts.
Dabi?
The female immediately stormed out of her shop and almost fell twice over her own shaking feet in the process. She followed the sound of erupting flames and shouting voices and had to turn into a few side roads to finally get to see the scene she had already feared to stumble upon. Luckily she could hide behind a few other people that watched the scene, so she wouldn‘t get discovered by the man she had missed over the past days.
"You all should evacuate right now! A fight is not to be trifled with,“ Endeavor exclaimed as he stepped closer to Dabi who was standing about 14 metres away from him. Some people did as he said and left the scene with a panicked face, but (Name) still held her ground. Eraserhead wasn‘t that far from her and she could swear she had seen him briefly look in her direction.
"I couldn‘t wait to stand face to face with you again, hero,“ Dabi spat the last word and raised his hands to feel the rain against his skin. He knew he couldn‘t use his powers when he intended because of Shota Aizawa‘s presence, but he wouldn‘t play the defeated one either. "In fact, I want all the world to know what great of a hero you are,“ he snickered, "so come here people! Come and watch!“
The dark grin on his face evoked a strange and unsettling feeling inside of the florist‘s chest. More people got back to the scene and they mostly stared in shock, not knowing what was going to happen. Some pulled out their phones to film the ongoing argument, but the majority just whispered to the people next to themselves. In a matter of minutes, a quite large mass had formed and stood in a circle around the scene, (Name) still being able to have a good look on everything. There was only one row of people in front of her and they didn't even stand close together.
Dabi walked closer towards the two men and Aizawa‘s scarf was precautionary floating in the air, a sign that his quirk must have been active. (Name) carefully brushed the people next to her and took a few steps forward, so she could see the scene without anyone in front of her. To say she was afraid of the things that were going to happen was an understatement.
"I‘ve seen you far too often for my liking over the last weeks, villain,“ Endeavor shot back and clenched his fist, ready to throw another punch of fire. "Just who are you anyways?“
The ravenette man snickered bitterly as his hair hung into his face. He stepped a bit closer to him, but there was still a considerable distance between the two of them. Eraserhead eyed the crowd again and told them once more they should better leave. It must have been for his reputation as an underground hero because only a few followed his call, but this was still better than having so many people around.
"I have a great name, you know,“ Dabi replied as he lifted his head and gazed at his father with a fierce expression. "Call me Toya.“
In the matter of seconds, the atmosphere appeared to have dropped to a feeling no one could really describe. To (Name), it felt like pure despair was hanging around in the air, but Dabi knew he was doing the right thing. He had waited far too long for this. No one had really seen it before, but small white streaks poked out through the remaining blackness of the scarred man‘s hair. It didn‘t take long for the heavy rain to wash away the rest of the darkness, and so, it seemed like a totally new person was standing on this battleground.
A sick and excited expression formed on the lost boy‘s face as he saw the face of the Number One Hero form into one of true terror and shock.
"Don‘t tell me you don‘t even recognize your own son!“ He held his stomach as he tried to surpress a laughter. "The past never dies, Enji Todoroki!“
Aforesaid man‘s head now reached the point of thoughts flowing through one‘s mind that were just too much to bear.
"This can‘t… be,“ Endeavor muttered breathlessly as he stared at the white haired male in front of him.
The several people that still lingered around with curious faces just stared at them in visible confusion. (Name) on the other hand immediately grasped the severeness of the situation and desperately wanted to run towards the man she‘d grown to love. She clutched a fist over her chest as she went through Dabi‘s words over and over again.
How he despised heroes.
How he wanted to know her opinion.
Why… he became a villain.
Everything made sense now.
Without any forewarning, Dabi‘s head shot up and stared at Endeavor with such hatred he had never seen before, not even from his other son Shoto.
"I don‘t get how people like you can call yourselves hero and still walk around like you never did anything wrong! You play the messiah like you’re the best person in the world, when everything in it is just utterly sick! It‘s no wonder everyone‘s turning mad in such a rotten society!“ The male gasped for air after his small outburst.
When he was finished, his turquoise eyes briefly met with the florist's (eye colour) ones, only for both of theirs to widen. She stared at Dabi‘s increasingly disrupted face and felt like her heart would get ripped out any minute as he said these words only she could understand.
"You took my life away from me." His voice cracked only the tiniest bit at the end.
Endeavor seemed to be at a loss for words as he stared at his forgotten son with torn eyes. This man, Enji Todoroki, the ever so great Number One Hero now got his face ripped off in front of the people who trusted him. Many shook their heads in disbelief, others clearly had tears in their eyes while some just continued to watch the scene with a serious expression. After all, this wasn‘t news you‘d hear everyday.
Aizawa‘s eyes followed Dabi‘s gaze and widened under his yellow goggles when he saw whom he was staring at. But this wasn‘t important right now.
Faint police sirens and the blurry colours of red and blue switching gradually approached the scene. The rain had gotten so heavy that most of the once so curious people now walked away and made room for the miserable remains of the really interested ones.
"I want you to rot in hell, even if it were the two of us together, dad.“
The white-haired man appeared almost relaxed. His sudden calmness and composure sent a chill down on the hero‘s spine. His whole world must have crumbled in front of him since he hadn‘t uttered a single word since this revealation.
In the moment the police cars had reached the scene and the officers slowly getting out of them, Aizawa stormed towards Dabi and shoved his knee in his stomach. Aforesaid male wasn‘t really able to register the sudden action and thus fell to the ground, an upset look on his face. The Erasing Hero was quick to tie the villain‘s limbs with his capturing scarf and was quite efficent since he had one foot pressed on the boy‘s belly.
"Do you think you‘re actions will do any good, Eraserhead?“ Dabi shouted as he realized his silent defeat. "Did you even listen to what I just said?!“ He wanted to burn his arms to ashes, but the hero‘s quirk was luckily still activated. To the boy‘s dismay, his goggles didn‘t get out of position the slightest bit, so he wouldn‘t know when he was able to use his cremating quirk.
"I did and that‘s why I‘m doing this.“ Shota Aizawa answered so quietly only the villain could hear it. He glanced at (Name) one last time before taking Dabi‘s head in his hands and knocking him out on the hard floor.
"Wait, why did you do that-," the woman jolted forwards with one hand outstretched as if she could do anything with that mere action, but she was stopped in the middle of her sentence when she felt the police officers brush her sides, giving her almost empathetic looks in the moment.
Everyone‘s clothing was entirely soaked and the motionless body of Dabi gave her the sad feeling of him having been completely oppressed by society. But still, something deep inside her gave her hope.
And this hope was triggered through the sheer existence of justice.
As the white-haired man‘s body got lifted by a shaking Endeavor, almost delicate not to break anything, (Name) felt like this incident could help this world to form anew. The hero walked close to the point the florist was standing at and had an undefinable, yet sad expression on his face. Dabi‘s limp arms swinged steadily with the process and the woman gave him a last, but immensely hopeful and determined look and burnt everything she now saw of the white-haired man so deeply into her head, she would never forget it.
Shota Aizawa came closer to the girl and put a reassuring hand on her trembling shoulders. She didn‘t grant him a look and only stared at the boy being put into one of the secure police cars. Endeavor didn‘t say inside and got into another one before all of the cars vanished like the rain calmly did above their heads.
No one was able to say how this was going to continue or how it was going to end. Society and especially humans are fickle things in this universe, each of their minds had yet to be explored and understood. But (Name) was sure the court or anyone who had just witnessed this dramatic scene would understand Dabi wasn‘t the one to judge. Above all, this would leave a huge impact on society - especially hero society - and it wouldn‘t take long for the message of Endeavor being an abusive father to take over the media. Even Shoto Todoroki‘s facial burn mark could be seen as some kind of evidence, even if the people didn‘t know that wasn‘t directly his doing.
(Name) wasn‘t sure if she would see Dabi ever again. But if she did, she would make sure to give him the life he never had, even if it meant to turn a bit of hers upside down. But she would gladly wait for him to step out of whatever place he was going to be now.
"Just wait for me.“
✧ ✧* . . ✧ *✧ ✧
Live and flourish
Just like the flowers inside of you
They can only thrive with love.
Give love to the people who need it
And let those go who wasted yours for nothing.
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐥𝐥.