Chapter Text
The harsh knock on the wooden door cut through the serenity of early morning birdsong heavily, the blonde stepping back and hunching his shoulders against the cold. Beside him, his companion shivered, looking out among the trees.
“It’s colder than I thought it would be. Shouldn’t the trees break the wind?” Nemuri asked.
“It’s the northern wind. When it blows down from Sekoto Peak, things get chilly,” Hizashi explained. “I don’t know why he made his home so close to it, though.”
“Whatever, we only have to stick around for a little while, make the demon happy.” She hummed, but looked a bit tense at the mention of Nedzu. He wasn’t new around the academy - he’d been there since they were in school, actually. Hizashi felt pretty relieved over that. Unlike many others, they were less. . . against the demon’s sudden academic takeover, and his influx of demon staff and student body.
Besides, now that he was principal, he’d been easy to convince to let other “unsavory” characters become teachers and heroes. He had a soft spot for societal misfits.
“Aren’t you happy to see-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Before he could, the door swung open, dark, tired eyes staring back at him. Hizashi’s gut clenched as he met the once-familiar gaze.
“Hizashi?” Shouta asked, frowning. His eyes dragged over to the taller woman. “Nemuri?”
“Shouta!” Nemuri greeted, her mouth curling into a broad smile. “It’s been so long! So good to see you again.”
“Nemuri,” Shouta’s voice leveled out from the twinge of surprise it held earlier. “It has. How has the Construction Coven been treating you?”
“Oh, you know, boring.” She shrugged. “You could join, you know-” She wheedled.
“No. Coven life has never been for me. Too restrictive.” He responded. Waving a hand, he stepped back from the door. “Come in, no point standing out there and catching cold.”
Nemuri stepped in first, blue eyes darting around the little cottage. Hizashi followed behind, noting the wide array of books and potions littered around. He shrunk in on himself as he saw the shadow creature painted across the page of one book, averting his eyes.
“How’s the whole, you know?” Nemuri asked, waving her hand about, a vague gesture. Shouta closed the door behind them before heading over to sit on a couch towards the back of the room.
“How’s what? Being a wild witch? Being cursed?” Hizashi winced, making sure his back was to Shouta the whole time.
“How are you, Sho.” Nemuri turned to their old counterpart, Hizashi mindlessly flipping through a book on illusions. It all meant nothing to him - he couldn’t do this kind of magic anymore.
Shouta let out a sigh. “Fine, I guess.”
“You guess?” She scoffed. “I’m gonna need more than that, Sho! What have you been up to? How’s life so far out? Have you settled down yet? You must be getting lonely, you know that Emi-”
“-I’m not interested.” It was a harsh shut-down, one that Hizashi appreciated even if he knew it wouldn’t sway Nemuri. “I prefer to be alone. It’s why I chose this place.”
“Really? I thought it was just the wild witch way, or something.” She moved next to Hizashi, tapping a bottle with a sleeping purple pygmy dragon in it. She cast Hizashi a long look. “Didn’t Nedzu say that the other one lived out here? The one that liked fire?”
Hizashi shrugged helplessly. “I. . . wasn’t paying attention.” Lots of things on his mind lately.
“Lots of wild witches prefer rural life. It’s quiet. But no, it’s not our way. There are plenty that live on the edges of town.” Shouta explained away, unconcerned.
“Oh? You talk to them often? Got any favorites? A Mrs. Aizawa. . . ?” Nemuri tried, turning back to Shouta again with a glimmer of teasing in her eyes. Hizashi sighed, smiling at her antics. She wouldn’t let up on him, would she?
“No, Nemuri. It’s not like that. Wild witches stick together, and that’s all it is. I buy from them, they buy from me.” Now, Hizashi turned, taking in his friend for the first time in a while. He was wearing a dark red cloak and had his eyes closed, rubbing at his eyes like he was still tired. They had come pretty early in the morning.
“Ah, Sho. . . .” Hizashi murmured, watching the witch open his eyes and turn to face him more fully. It hurt. He looked so much like the tired fifteen-year-old he’d attended UA with. The same boy that had terrorized the school with him and Oboro, if reluctantly.
And, oh, Oboro. . . .
He cleared his throat as it began to feel tight, clearing his thoughts. “We’re teachers now, at UA.”
“That’s great.” Shouta lolled his head back against the couch, closing his eyes again. “I bet you’re great with kids.”
“. . . Nedzu’s the principal, now.”
“Really?” Only the vaguest of surprise could be heard in his tone. The hero wished his friend would take this more seriously. “Never thought they’d let him. Good for him.”
“Good for him? That’s it?” Nemuri sounded mystified. “A demon’s our principal, and that’s all you say?”
“What am I supposed to say, Nem? Wild witches don’t hate demons like coven witches do. They’re outcasts, too, and they can’t help how they were born.”
Before she could jump in with another distraction, the blonde held his hand out to her, shooting her a stern look. Nemuri rolled her eyes and went back to inspecting the assortment of herbs and minerals strewn across his desk.
“He’s been clearing out the whole school. Anyone who doesn’t accept demons has been fired, and he’s been bringing in new teachers. We have a couple new demons on staff now. . . .” Shouta opened his eyes, scowling and casting a suspicious look Hizashi’s way. He sucked in a steadying breath - well, he’d known it wouldn’t be easy. “He’s looking to hire wild wi-”
“No.”
“Sho-”
“I said no.”
“At least listen-”
“No. Hizashi, no.” His old friend pushed himself up, face stoney as he looked out one of his windows. “I’ve never been good with children.”
“You’d make a great teacher, just give it a chance,” He begged. The other was pacing, now.
“The Emperor would never accept someone like me.”
“He holds no control over Nedzu or UA. He won’t even know you’re there.”
“Wild witches and coven witches don’t mix. Even if Nedzu lets me stay, none of the others will.”
“You’d be surprised.” Hizashi murmured.
“A lot of the staff were former students, now,” Nemuri told him. “Old friends of Nedzu, people who knew us. They wouldn’t turn on you, Shouta.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I do know that.”
Shouta snorted, pacing around with a furrowed brow. He looked tense and bitter, all harsh lines and years of betrayal. Or maybe Hizashi was reading that wrong, but whether or not Shouta knew it, he had been betrayed. “I’m not joining a coven.”
“No one’s asking you to. Nedzu specifically wants to welcome all kinds of people, wild witches included.” Nemuri was wandering a few steps closer. “Please, one year, just give it a try. It’ll be like the old days, running the halls of UA-”
“No.” He snapped, and Hizashi knew he wasn’t imagining the grief that flooded his eyes. “No, it won’t be like the old days. It’ll never be like that again. . . .” The last sentence drifted off, a hoarse whisper as if he couldn’t bear to say it any louder.
Hizashi sighed, reaching into his own cloak to pull out a paper. “Life in the bard coven is good.” He told Shouta. “There aren’t too many bards out there, but me and Emi cause quite the stir whenever we’re together. Nemuri’s getting sick of us, and Tensei refuses to be around both of us at the same time.” He smiled softly, fingering the edge of the paper. Finally, he dropped it on the desk, but gripping the memories that had resurfaced all the closer. “Think about it, okay, Sho? And don’t be a stranger. I’d love to see you more.” He dropped the paper on the desk, feeling more than seeing Shouta’s gaze track it unreadably.
The look Nemuri gave him said she didn’t want to let it go, but arguing would only make the stubborn bastard more set in his ways. Hizashi knew from winning many arguments that the best defense was letting him stew with his own thoughts until he convinced himself that Hizashi was right, so he waved at her to follow him out. Shouta’s eyes were still glued to the paper, looking resistant, resilient, and unbelievably wistful all at once.
Nemuri passed him an annoyed look while he was waving at Shouta. Hizashi shot her a glare. Nemuri glared back, crossing her arms. Hizashi gave her a long look. Finally, she rolled her eyes, huffing to herself as she started for the door. Hizashi followed her out. “We’ll see you around.” Shouta didn’t respond as the door shut behind him.
Now the worst part about taking care of an immortal child something that was cursed for all eternity had to be trying to get him out of the house.
You’d think it’d be easy, he was attached to the mirror and all, so theoretically it should be as easy as Dabi picking up the mirror and walking out. But there were a few things about this that just didn’t work in practice.
First of all, Izuku was quite. . . loud. And lacked a certain amount of morals the typical witch or demon might have. Now, Dabi was all for not having morals, but at least he could act decent and civilized long enough to take a trip into town without causing too much damage. Izuku was not like this. He wanted to play games, and he wanted to do it now. And Izuku, despite being a child, was objectively obscenely stronger than Dabi was.
Dabi, like many others, was your stereotypical witch, born with unbridled magic. It wasn’t until after you graduated that you were expected to take a coven - a specific area of study that, with a little symbol branded onto the wrist, left witches incapable of performing any other type of magic. As a wild witch, he had refused to take a coven, something he was sure would’ve given his bastard father a coronary.
His father firmly subscribed to the idea that the only way to live was to tie down your magic to focus on honing his skills in one field of study, that wild witches were manic and caused nothing but chaos. While true in Dabi’s case, it wasn’t in every witch’s. Granted, his father also believed that the abomination coven was the coven to join, and abomination magic was Dabi’s least-used type of magic. So many other spells could do so much more, in his opinion. But then, Dabi had never agreed with the coven system at all.
Because, you see, covens were counterproductive. They trapped your magic and made it. . . less. Not gave you the ability to focus, they just trapped it and limited it. He regretted many things in his life but becoming a wild witch wasn’t one of them, even if it was half the reason he was a fugitive now.
As a wild witch, Dabi had refused the crown and the Emperor’s system. He was wild, and he was free, and he was everything the law despised. Untied to pointless covens and bound magic, he could and did use his magic as he pleased.
Izuku, on the other hand, was probably the most powerful witchling he’d ever come across. Or he’d thought he was a witchling. After about a decade and still no growth, as well as Izuku’s inability to understand time, he was beginning to question the child and his magic that seemingly made him immortal. Now he seemed like something else entirely - not quite a witch, not quite a demon. But that was crazy.
Either way, he was. . . well, he was an anomaly. He could float and teleport, he had fire resistance and never got sick, healing magic and fire magic and-
Well, honestly, he was just an anomaly. He could do so much more, and it did nothing for making the kid be able to sit still. When Izuku wanted something, he would get it. If Dabi resisted, he would end up floating helplessly across the house while Izuku rummaged through his cupboards. It was fucking annoying.
And days out should be simple. A quick trip to town, he could leave Izuku behind because of his lack of ability to function like a normal person, but that brought them to the next issue.
Secondly, Izuku hated being alone. With a passion. He fought Dabi tooth and nail everytime he left the house to take him with him, and if he didn’t. . . .
Dabi wasn’t soft, okay? He wasn’t. But Izuku cried. He cried and he begged when Dabi tried to leave, and he sobbed harder when Dabi came back. He really, really hated being alone, and Dabi couldn’t make him.
Some days were better than others, and Izuku would let him go with no fuss, especially if it was a quick trip. But today’s excursion would probably be an hour or more, and Izuku wasn’t having a good day. Nor did he understand Dabi’s need to go out and get food for them, but he wasn’t even going to try to have that conversation again. He barely understood Izuku’s argument last time.
Which was what led them to here and now.
Dabi hoisted the child up and over his shoulder, Izuku shrieking indignantly and pounding his fists against his back. “C’mon. We’re not going to be gone long, kiddo, it’s not like-”
“No!” And suddenly he was holding an armful of nothing. Dabi grimaced, turning to glare at the boy. His white hair was a mop of curls under his hat, and his face had that strange purple discoloration that made it look like his face was branded with his sun and moon sigil. The child huffed, feet stomping childishly. “Why do we even need to go to town? I wanna stay here! I wanna play here!”
“We need to go to town, just for a bit.” Dabi grimaced. “I need to get some things, okay? A few herbs, a couple of basilisk eggs, and some food for the week and we’ll come right back. Please, Izuku, just be good? And try not to deface any of the Emperor’s sigils while we’re there.”
Izuku glared at him, pouting petulantly. “I don’t wanna go. I like being here.”
“I know, I know, but I have to go-”
“Don’t leave me!” The same roundabout argument Dabi had heard a hundred times. “You can’t leave, you can’t! You promised!”
“I’m not-” Dabi sighed, exhausted with this argument already. “Izuku, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back soon, but I can’t sit in this house constantly. I’ve got to leave sometimes. You can either come with me and behave or stay here and pout, it’s your choice.”
The child glared at him, green eyes spitting angrily back at him. After a moment he stomped his foot again, crossing his arms. “‘Be good, Izuku. Be quiet. No games right now, Izuku. We’ve gotta sit here and be boring.’”
“Are you done?”
“You’re no fun anymore!” Izuku complained. “All you do now is chores and talk to people I can’t. I wanna play games with people, too!”
Dabi sighed, making for the door. “I’m going-”
“No! Wait!” The child cried, and Dabi wasn’t soft. He wasn’t, he wasn’t, he wasn’t. But Izuku’s voice broke, and it was so desperate, and he stopped to give the child a much more understanding look.
“Do you want me to grab your mirror?” He asked. Izuku looked like he wanted to argue more, but his big eyes were scared, and he ended up just nodding silently. So Dabi detoured to the side table by the door, collecting the little moon-inscribed mirror from where he’d set it earlier.
When he made it back to the door, the child followed him, grasping at his sleeve in a tight grip. He didn’t blame him - this was never easy for Izuku. When they left the house, whatever magic was here receded, and he was stuck again.
Pushing into the front yard, he slipped the mirror into his bag. The white-haired boy was staring at the treeline like a death sentence, the little line of blue flags marking the border. This was the worst part of any trip out.
One step past the flags, then another. The weight on his sleeve disappeared. Dabi glanced at the nearest tree, staring into the shadowy face of his companion.
“You good?” Dabi asked. The boy looked less than thrilled.
“I wanna go home.” Yeah. . . .
“Come on, we’ll be quick.” Dabi told him. He was a bit distorted in this form, his half-sun-half moon face dotted with white freckles, a harsh contrast to the black-and-grey monochrome of the rest of him. He couldn’t reach across and touch Dabi like this, and his powers tended to be limited. Dabi took the lead, but the little shadow creature swooped ahead quickly, spiraling around trees and making faces (plural) at Dabi as he passed. A few times he even startled the local wildlife, sparrows and squirrels flittering and scampering off with desperate alarm calls.
The house was safe. He wasn’t sure why, exactly, but it was. They’d found the stretch of land by accident, a little glade in the woods that Izuku could come through and be, in some sense of the word, physical. His real body was still trapped ‘between,’ whatever that meant, but he was able to do a lot more. It was why Dabi had chosen to live here and have this cottage built. It was sacred ground for them. Precious and unique, Izuku’s only lifeline to the physical world.
When they got closer to town, Izuku dropped back, following his steps and mimicking a shadow. If anyone looked hard enough, they’d wonder why he had one - it was mid-day, and everyone around them only had a dark splotch under their feet, but no one would question it much. Weird things that were seemingly out of place were common in a witches’ market, and Dabi liked the comfort of Izuku being close.
He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like the kid could help if he got in trouble, and the child could hardly get into anything too dangerous when he was a shadow, but it was still relieving.
They started with the herbs, Dabi paying no mind to his shadow as he selected a few vials of thyme, sage, rosemary, and chamomile. They weren’t necessary, but since he was out anyway, he made sure to replenish their stores of quartz, amethyst, and bloodstone, as well. Most of their ingredients would be foraged, but some things were just easier to buy.
He stopped by a little stand with a few different types of eggs available, looking for what he needed. Basilisk, basilisk, basilisk. . . .
A short woman with purple hair moved closer, yellow eyes flashing. “Ah, you- we don’t sell to your kind, sir.” There was a bite to her saccharine sweet tone.
Dabi’s mouth twisted in annoyance. “I’m just here for a few basilisk eggs-”
“You can get them elsewhere.” She responded, bordering a snap. “Preferably outside of Bonesborough.”
He stepped up a bit closer. “I’d get out quicker if you just handed me a few of those.” He pointed to the sleek, dark eggs. The woman barely cast a look in their direction before narrowing her eyes on Dabi again. “. . . I may even pay for them.”
“We don’t want your money.”
“That’s okay,” he responded breezily. “I can just take the eggs and go.” He reached out, but the woman draw a circle in the air before he could snatch one. The eggs were covered suddenly, getting boxed up by an unforeseen force. He grimaced as he dragged his eyes to the witch in question. She only glared from behind the stand.
Dabi narrowed his eyes, staring for a long moment. He really fucking hated people - if he didn’t need to eat, he’d have stayed home like Izuku wanted. People were fucking awful, just all around. “. . . I see.”
He let his eyes sweep the market, walking away. He’d have to be quick, if any coven guards were around, he had no doubt she’d snitch, and he was rather. . . identifiable. So now they were on a time crunch to finish up here and make for the food market a bit deeper into the town, and hope for the best.
Izuku was getting antsy. The shadow under his feet twitched oddly, not following Dabi’s movements like a normal shadow would’ve. He cast a warning look his way, but, admittedly, he didn’t really know what Izuku saw when he was like this, and Izuku probably wouldn’t listen to the silent warning, anyway.
He kept an eye on Izuku as he found somewhere else to buy a few basilisk eggs from. The twitching was getting a bit more obvious, now, and someone even cast a confused look at his shadow, so Dabi was forced to make a quick exit towards the far side of the town, ducking down a discreet alley.
Apparently Izuku could sense something while he was like that, because the second they were out of sight he was zipping back up the walls, looking more like his shadowy, child self. Colorless eyes blinked at him owlishly, and Dabi sighed at the cute, ignorant little face.
“Izuku, stop squirming. You’re drawing attention.” He scolded, but it didn’t have as much heat as it probably should’ve.
The shadeling rolled his eyes. “I’m bored. I don’t wanna sit still, Dabi, it’s-”
“Boring, I got that,” He muttered. He shot the kid a disappointed look, Izuku pouting at him in reply. “We’re almost done, kiddo. Just a bit longer and we’re going home. I’ll get you some extra appleblood if you’re good, okay?”
Izuku narrowed his eyes, judging the truth in what Dabi said. He was probably debating how likely it was that Dabi would grab his favorites, anyway, which was - admittedly - pretty likely. He had an issue with spoiling the kid. “. . . Promise?”
“Promise.” He half expected Izuku to make him pinky swear, but instead his eyes just lit up excitedly, passing a bright grin Dabi’s way.
“Okay! I’ll be good. So good. Get me griffin eggs, too.” He wished Izuku would have said that before he’d gotten the basilisk eggs. Whatever, he could get some with the rest of the groceries, they weren’t considered an exotic good or anything.
Izuku zipped back under his feet, barely reattaching before a figure stepped into the end of the alley. Dabi looked up, eyes wary as he tried to determine what the cloaked person had seen or heard.
“. . . Dabi.” A low voice called. A familiar voice. “Why am I not surprised to find you talking to yourself in an alley?”
He rolled his eyes, turning and heading towards the far end of the alley. “Aizawa. I’d think you’d know better than most how the island speaks to us.”
“Yes, but you’re the only one I know who speaks back.” Dabi let the little jab go, it wasn’t like Aizawa knew what was going on, anyway. He could accuse Dabi of being crazy all he wanted, it wasn’t his place to correct him.
He didn’t respond, but Aizawa called out, “Hey, wait. I want to talk to you while you’re here.” With a long suffering sigh he stopped, making a great effort to turn sideways and cock a brow at the other wild witch. Aizawa pushed his witch’s cloak back, the shadowy alley doing nothing for the dark bags under Aizawa’s eyes. “I was visited by a couple of witches earlier.”
“Fascinating.” Dabi drolled. The other ignored him, which was for the best. He and Aizawa actually got along pretty well, and Dabi had a bit of respect for the older witch. Aizawa had helped him out a few times after they met when Dabi was fifteen, showing him new spells and how to survive. He and Izuku had even stayed at Aizawa’s for almost two months at one point, although he hadn’t exactly known about his secondary guest.
That all is to say, Aizawa isn’t the type to bother him over nothing. If he wanted to talk to Dabi, there was a reason for it. The dark-eyed witch started walking over, shoulders hunched in on himself. “They were offering me some position at a local school, said they were looking for wild witches to make some statement or another.” Dabi frowned. So, they’d contacted Aizawa, too? “Said they’d stopped by another witch in the area. I wanted to warn you, they might come talk to you.”
“They already did.” He told the man. “I had a demon come visit me about becoming a hero yesterday.” Aizawa snorted, and Dabi agreed with the sentiment. It was hardly realistic for people like them. “I said no, just for the record.”
“For the record, so did I.” Aizawa gave him a nod. “I didn’t expect you to fall into idealism, anyway. You’ve always had a good head-”
“Down there!” The two turned, Dabi cursing as the armored coven guards spotted them. Right, he was on a time crunch, wasn’t he? “Stop, Dabi! You are wanted for-”
“Shit,” Aizawa cursed, and the two took off. Technically, Aizawa was wanted by the crown, too. Maybe not for all the arson, scamming, theft. . . but, uh, yeah. Still wanted.
“Stop!” The lead coven guard called, three sets of footsteps giving chase.
They abandoned to alleys quick, Dabi pushing aside witches that didn’t get out of the way fast enough as they ran down the narrow brick street. Aizawa reached over, pulling down a stand behind them. A witch shouted at them, but neither paid attention.
“We should fly,” Dabi told him, summoning his staff.
“No!” Aizawa hissed. “The second we’re in the air, we’re open targets.”
“No casualties. We can fight-”
“We’re not starting a brawl with the coven guards if we don’t have to, Dabi!” Aizawa chastised, like he were being the unreasonable one. If they had more time, he’d point out that fighting coven guards wasn’t too out of the ordinary for him, but honestly Aizawa would probably just try lecturing him. He was such a teacher at heart.
Aizawa grabbed his arm as they turned a corner into a junction between several alleys, pulling him harshly behind a statue of the Emperor as they crouched, struggling to get their breathing under control.
That clatter of steps came pounding after them before slowing to a stop. “Where’d they go?” One of the guards demanded. “Spread out, find them!” Without another word, the footsteps split up, each taking off down a different path. For a long moment, they sat still.
Dabi leaned back, letting out an exhausted breath. “Well, at least we got out of-”
“Dabi!” Aizawa hissed, standing and tirling around to face him, looking annoyed. There was a sort of frustrated disbelief to his face, dark eyes saying he definitely still thought of him as the little kid he’d helped all those years ago.
Dabi blinked dumbly, not understanding where the sudden ire had come from. “What-”
And then he saw it. The blue glow of his magic, a soft heat warming his back as he heard the soft crackle of flames. Dodging away, he stood to look at the little blaze that was growing across the back of the statue. The statue of the Emperor. Fuck, he’d been so stupid.
“Really, Dabi, Really?” Aizawa gave him a dry look. “You still don’t have control over your magic?”
No, but it wasn’t really his fault. He’d more or less sold half control of his magic to Izuku years ago, so, yeah, sometimes the little shit started fires he wasn’t expecting. Usually the Emperor’s shit. But it wasn’t like he was some sort of kid with no control of his magic, it’s just that he shared it, and the other half tended to be a bit. . . trigger happy. And lacked understanding of consequence. His eyes dropped to his shadow, shooting a glare at it.
“You’re acting like a child,” Aizawa admonished, Dabi grimacing as he realized it must’ve looked like he was glaring at his feet.
“My magic’s always been wild,” He responded flippantly. “You know it basically has a mind of its own.”
“That excuse is getting old.” Aizawa cast him a hard look. “Can you kill the fire?”
Unfortunately, Dabi was quite powerful. Not only did his magic come out an unnatural blue, but it also tended to be more volatile in any form it took. His fire, for example, caught easier, burned brighter, and didn’t much like getting put out. So Aizawa’s own power output would have to be exponentially greater than Dabi’s to put it out.
He tried to will the fire down only to have a mental block get in his way. Izuku. He really didn’t like the Emperor, did he? He lifted his hand, drawing a circle and summoning a wind blast. The air dove forwards, slamming into the growing flame as it ate its way across the statue. Instead, a little, invisible shield redirected the wind around the flame. Izuku.
“That’s strange. . . .” The older witch mumbled beside him, and Dabi immediately shuffled away a bit. He needed to distract the man before he put anything together.
“I can’t.” He really, really wished he had a good excuse as to why he couldn’t, but oh well. Aizawa had always known he’d been a bit off. “It’s like my magic has a mind of its own, sometimes.” Maybe that was a little on the nose.
Aizawa grimaced. “You need to get a hold of it. Come on, we can’t stay here. Burning a statue of the Emperor is going to attract way too much attention.” The older grabbed his shoulder, pushing him off down another sidestreet. “What is it with you and the Emperor, anyway? This is hardly the first time I’ve seen your name floating around the news when it comes to destroying his sigils.”
“. . . I honestly don’t know,” He muttered. Whatever it was, Izuku really had an issue with the guy, which made no sense, since the child had, to his knowledge, been pretty young the last time he’d been outside the mirror.
“Well, get a grip. They wouldn’t be after you so much if you weren’t constantly defacing their shit.”
No, really? If only Aizawa were here sooner, to impart such wisdom on him sooner! Surely, they could’ve avoided this whole mess.
But as much as he loved sarcasm and passive-aggression, that’d get him nowhere with Aizawa. Besides, it was best to just let him believe in the simplest answers. He didn’t fully know what Izuku was or where he came from, but he knew what happened to powerful witches when they were discovered by the HPSC and Emperor. And Izuku wasn’t exactly someone who they could afford to just hand over, with his strange powers and being trapped as he was, secrecy was necessary, at least for now. Maybe one day Aizawa could meet the little pyromaniac freak of nature.
Heh, he hoped so. He wanted to watch Izuku cause enough chaos that the older wild witch would never be able to bitch at him again for all the weird shit he got up to.
Aizawa scoffed when Dabi didn’t respond, pushing him down another street. “You know, I thought you got a hold of this when you were seventeen.”
Dabi kept quiet again. His eyes dropped back to the shadow by his feet, and although it looked no different than a silhouette of him, he felt a bit. . . well. He felt like it would look smug if it had a face. Unrepentant little shit.
A few people stumbled out of the way as Aizawa pushed onto a busier street. A few eyes boggled, catching on Dabi. Great, so the guard would be here soon. Izuku made his life so much more complicated.
As the older witch picked up his pace, Dabi realized he’d probably picked up on the unwanted attention too. They were halfway down the street when they heard them again.
“Stop them! They’re wanted by the Emperor!” Fucking great, just what he needed today.
The two wild witches started running, Aizawa cursing under his breath. It was a shared sentiment as the clang of armored boots rang out behind them.
Most of the people on the street skittered to the side, eyes boggling and hands clutching at their belongings and children. One good samaritan tried to jump in their way, but with a simple wind spell Aizawa had him flying out of their way.
“This way!” Dabi hissed, grabbing at the other’s shoulder as they took an abrupt turn down an alley. It was littered with garbage and had a wrought iron fence by the end of it. Neither hesitated as they vaulted over it, racing around the next corner as the footsteps followed them down the alley.
Aizawa stopped short, Dabi almost tripping over his feet as he tried to stop. They both breathed heavily, out on one of the main streets and facing down two unfamiliar faces. The unnerving way the small, animal-like demon stared at him with a knowing smile made Dabi want to launch himself off the cliff that bordered the road. He’d probably have an easier time getting away with his broom than getting through these two, there was something entirely too in-control about them.
The older man shifted in front of him, dark eyes narrowing. “Nedzu, awful convenient to see you here.”
“Don’t act so suspicious, Shouta-kun!” The smaller demon greeted with entirely too much familiarity. Dabi gave his own suspicious look Aizawa’s way, but they didn’t have time for him to demand any explanations. “Me and Ectoplasm-kun were just picking a few things up for UA when we heard there was a bit of a ruckus going on. Any idea what’s going on?”
Glancing over his shoulder, he hissed. The guards were at the gate now, struggling over in their bulky armor. “We don’t have time for this!”
“Ah, right,” Nedzu didn’t seem bothered at all by Dabi’s stressed tone or the coven guards chasing after them. “We should have this conversation in private, don’t you think? Come with me.”
Dabi was about to argue, but the second he’d made a sound Aizawa was shooting him a harsh look and pushing him after the demons. Dabi cast a dubious look, but Aizawa wouldn’t get him arrested. So, he followed.
They were led just a few meters down the road where a carriage stood. It had some witch sitting in the front with two skeletal horses drawing it. He stared openly at the animated bones, braying and kicking at the loose cobble. They were barely out of sight of the guards, so he hurried into the back, followed by the other wild witch and their apparent demon companions.
The second they were in the back, the man out front called something, and the carriage lurched into movement. Dabi cursed as he jerked, not used to horses or carriages much anymore. He made sure to pass his pissiest look Aizawa’s way, but the other only stared down the demon across from him.
Nedzu smiled back. “Still so paranoid, Shouta-kun. Is this any way to act when being invited to tea with an old friend?”