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When Fuyumi came to in a pile of rubble that had once been a bank, smoke clogged the air. It was something she was vaguely familiar with, but it was the fire around her that caused her the most distress. She knew smoke inhalation could kill a person as fast as fire, if not faster in some cases. However, due to her snow quirk, she was more heat-sensitive than most people. If any of the fire inched closer to her, she could be severely injured.
She used to flinch away at the sight of fire, even when it was from her father. She couldn’t understand how he could keep his flames activated at nearly all times. Back when they were kids, she and Touya used to make bets on whether or not he slept with his fire beard still on, but they were always too afraid to sneak into his room to find out if he did. Touya was sure he didn’t since he’d catch his pillow or blanket on fire if he rolled over, but Fuyumi wasn’t so certain. Their father was in control of everything, but most especially his flames.
Over the years, she’d gotten used to the element. It wasn’t the fire that scared her so much as the temper that caused them to flare up. Did she jump when people struck a match or flicked on a lighter near her? Sometimes, yeah, and it was always embarrassing. “What? You scared of a little fire?” the person would tease, and she’d smile and laugh awkwardly in an attempt to brush it off. No, she wasn’t - she swore she wasn’t, especially because of Shouto now - but it was...hard sometimes.
Hard to forget. Harder to remember. She’d been burned by fire before, although it had been an accident. She could still remember the searing pain and how much she’d screamed. Even though she never had before and never did again, she ran to her father crying and hugged his legs. He was a hero. He could protect her.
Touya hadn’t meant it. He’d cried too, but probably because he knew how much trouble he was in. Once their father figured out what happened, he dragged Touya away and into the dojo for a training lesson that left him silent for a full day. When Fuyumi tried to get him to play with her the next day, having forgiven him for burning her with his quirk, he wouldn’t even talk to her. The next day, he screamed at her to leave him alone, and she got mad at him for being mean.
She didn’t find out until a week later that his arms were bandaged up from wrist to shoulder. He finally agreed to play with her, and she caught sight of the bandages peeking out from under his long sleeves in the summer heat. She’d been horrified. Even if he’d wanted to play with her that second day, he couldn’t. He was in too much pain. The burn on her wrist was nothing compared to his wounds.
The fire around her now was nothing to play with either. She pushed herself to her feet, coughing as she did so, and lifted her shirt over her face. The building had been half-destroyed, but by what, she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t a hero who had been taught to analyze situations like this - her father hadn’t spared her the time upon her quirk manifesting into something disappointing - but she was smart. She could hear fighting as heroes clashed with villains, people screaming and crying, the building aching as it threatened to collapse more.
She also wasn’t the only one who had been in the bank when the attack happened.
There weren’t any pros coming in here to help them, at least not right now, but they couldn’t afford to wait. Fuyumi was terrified out of her mind, trembling and coughing, but the idea of running out of here and getting to safety without trying to help anyone was preposterous. She was the daughter of Endeavor, the Number One Hero, and the older sister to a future hero - and she would do whatever she could to help these people even if she was weak and afraid.
The first thing she did was find someone who could help her. Most people who were conscious were also too frightened to do anything, but she found the security guard who seemed to have his wits together enough to do some good. They gathered everyone that could walk without support and then began to help a few people who had been trapped by the rubble. Almost everyone had suffered some sort of wound - be it gashes from glass or concrete, burns from the fire, broken bones from the rubble, or more - but there were a few people who they were forced to carry.
And there were more than a handful that were beyond saving, but Fuyumi couldn’t think about them right now. She wouldn’t. Later, she would remember them and weep, but for now, the only tears she allowed herself to shed right now was from the smoke.
The longer they stayed inside, the higher the threat of smoke inhalation became. A lot of it was floating into the sky due to the massive hole in the roof and front of the building, but they still had to be careful. The only other issue was that they weren’t sure how bad it was outside either. They could walk right into the middle of a battle. A loud explosion rattled the building, causing more of the ceiling to collapse. She had to grab onto a pillar to keep herself from falling, but it didn’t feel so study anymore.
They couldn’t go outside, but they couldn’t stay in here. The building could collapse, the smoke could choke them out, the fire could burn them to a crisp. What to do? What were they supposed to do? Fuyumi closed her eyes and tried to remember anything her father might’ve told her in case of an emergency like this. He told them that much. He taught them how to survive.
After coming to a quick decision, she used her snow in an attempt to combat the flames, even though civilians weren’t supposed to use their quirks in public. It wasn’t much, but it did cool down the room and dampened the smoke. Some of the flames ate right through her snow, but she forced her quirk further. She’d never used it so extensively before. Straining it like this exhausted her, but she pushed through it to buy them some time.
Still, it wasn’t enough, but she struggled to think straight. The harder she tried, the more she was sure that she would make a mistake. People kept looking at her like she had an answer, but she didn’t. She was just a kindergarten teacher. The most she dealt with were kids’ quirks manifesting in the middle of class. Sure, a bunch of kids with newly developed quirks could be ridiculous and difficult to manage, but they weren’t grown adults with a handle on their quirks keen on destruction.
In the end, the building made the choice for her as the fire overtook the ceiling and it began to collapse in earnest. She managed to scream, “Run!” and did what she could to help carry anyone who couldn’t walk on their own. They flooded out of the building in a panic. There was no time to look back to make sure everyone had made it out. All she could do was hope that other people had stepped up to help.
The sight that met them outside was little better. Fuyumi gasped when she saw the state of the street. Buildings destroyed, more fire and smoke, water from broken fire hydrants flowing, cars destroyed and burning. Heroes, civilians, and villains scrambled alike. She spotted the terrifying and strange Nomu creatures the League of Villains was so fond of using along with a few pro heroes.
They weren’t the only ones fighting. She recognized two people in the League from their wanted signs on the news. Strangely enough, only one of them was fighting against a group of heroes while the other was fending off someone who didn’t look like a hero at all. What the hell was going on? Had the League attacked? Were they fighting heroes or someone else? Who were the other people? She didn’t know what was happening, but there was no time to think it over.
“We have to get away from this area as far from possible!” Fuyumi yelled over the fighting. Maybe if she thought about it like she was yelling over a noisy class, she would get through this without freaking out, but she wasn’t sure how long she had before she was at the end of her rope.
This was what her father dealt with? This was what Shouto was going into? It was terrifying. She didn’t want any part of her. She’d come to terms with the fact that she was lucky her father hadn’t dragged her into training with Touya, but she’d never felt it as much as she did now.
As they pushed their way down the street and attempted to stay out of the fighting, Fuyumi looked behind them despite warning herself against it. The air was stolen from her lungs when a man from the unknown group turned on them. A hero yelled at them to stop, but he didn’t. He must’ve decided to switch to attacking civilians in order to throw the heroes off. Her eyes widened and she pushed the person she was helping out of the way as the man lifted his hand and fired some sort of sludge at her.
And then a massive blue column of fire erupted between them, hot enough to melt the spikes and also cause her to stagger away in shock. The heat from the flames was overwhelming. It hadn’t come close to touching her, but she could feel it from meters away, washing over her skin like a hot gust of wind.
When the flames finally died down, Fuyumi was shocked to see not her attacker but a man in a long, dark black jacket standing in front of her. His back might’ve been turned to her, but she recognized the ugly, purple scars on his arms and the back of his neck and the staples seemingly holding him together. Blue flames roared to life around his hands as he stared the villain down, the end of his jacket billowing in the wind as smoke swirled around him.
The villain Dabi was unmistakable.
What was also unmistakable was the fact that he’d saved her life. Maybe it hadn’t been on purpose. He could have been trying to attack the other villain, but then why had he shot his flames at the projectiles and not the man himself? It would’ve made more sense to take him out. What did it matter if she was struck or not? He was a villain. He didn’t care about civilians.
“Oh, what’s this?” the other villain called out. “You a hero now, Dabi?”
The taunt rolled off of Dabi like water. He didn’t shoot off a retort or argue with him. It was like he didn’t care at all. This villain meant nothing to him, his words meaningless.
Instead, Dabi turned his head slightly to the side so that one bright blue eye could connect with hers. She couldn’t move. Even if the air had been clear, she wouldn’t have been able to breathe. There were a hundred things swirling in his sharp gaze, so foreign and familiar that she was frozen.
“What are you waiting for?” he demanded in a low voice. “Get out of here.”
Fuyumi wasn’t sure how she managed to stand on her feet, but she did it somehow. Her knees wobbled, her legs threatening to buckle underneath her, but she gained her balance and her ability to breathe. She never once looked away from him, her eyes locked on his, and he didn’t either despite the advancing villain. How many people had he killed with those flames? She should be terrified and yet…
The fire didn’t look threatening for once. It reminded her of Shouto. If only for a moment, she wasn’t afraid. Fire was familiar. Fire was warmth. Fire was protection. She knew fire, even if it was her opposite.
“Thank you,” she managed.
A grin stretched across Dabi’s face, ugly and terrible as it pulled at his scars and staples. It should’ve scared her, but once again, it didn’t, and she wasn’t sure why. He even chuckled before saying, “Don’t thank me just yet, Fuyumi.” She gawked, but then was forced back when his flames grew hotter. “Now go. I’m not in the mood to be kind.”
Nodding frantically, Fuyumi turned on her heels and she ran. She ran over the uneven ground, tripping over debris that she couldn’t see in the thicker parts of the smoke. She ran past the fighting and chaos. She ran even as her vision blurred from the tears pooling in her eyes and streaking down her soot-covered face. She ran and she ran until she collapsed on her hands and knees and choked on the air.
It didn’t matter how far she ran from the fight. She could still feel the heat of those flames chasing her. When she turned back, the most brilliant blue filled the air, swirling about like a tornado of fire. She didn’t dare look away, the light glowing in her eyes, and put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from making a sound.
She knew that fire. She knew those eyes. She knew he’d never meant to hurt her.