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Touya stands in the bathroom, staring at a reflection in the mirror that is not his. An image of something that doesn't look human, looks too burned to be alive, patched up with staples like some kind of twisted rag doll.
The stranger has his eyes.
Touya is only six when this demented figure begins appearing in reflective surfaces, in the dark corners of the house, in his nightmares.
It's a man, or looks like one if he were human. He has dark, unkempt hair, cold cruel eyes, a unhealthily thin build, and his arms, neck, lower half of his face, and under both eyes are horribly scarred to a blackened purple color. The scars are connected to the healthy skin with crude metal staples that pull when he grins and bleed from under his eyes.
It scares him.
"Go away." Touya whispers at the scary figure.
The scarred face grins, cruel and hideous. Then a voice echoes in his ears.
"I'll leave when we die."
..
Touya is seven years old and training with his Father. He's too slow, too weak. His fire burns so bright and hot that his body can't take it. The flames burn under his skin, boils away at his insides, and melts through his flesh, opening disgusting, oozing blisters that stain his clothes.
"Get up." Father's voice booms above him, his eyes digging daggers into his spine. "Get up off the floor, Touya."
Touya swallows, he hears the warning in his Father's voice, the disappointment and disgust at how weak he is. He's disgusted with himself. He wants to do better.
A burning hand grabs at his hair and tugs him up off the floor, he whines at the pain in his scalp. When he does not call upon his flames a fist drives hard into his stomach and he collapses again, coughing and gagging, tears blurring his vision.
"Fight back, don't just lie there being useless!" Father shouts and Touya cries then Father kicks him, again, and again, and again.
Touya throws up on the floor and Enji stops, steps back and waits. When Touya looks up, that terrifying figure with coal black hair and patchwork skin is standing behind his Father. Blue fire dances on the man's hands.
Touya's eyes widen in fear, he scrambles back, trying to get out the words to warn his Father.
"What, are you scared of me?" The man mocks, Father doesn't seem to hear him, "how pitiful."
"What the hell are you freaking out about, boy? Get up and use your fire."
"D-Dad!" Touya shrieks, pointing at the stranger ready to attack his Father.
Enji turns, looks straight at the man, then looks back to Touya, throwing his hands up, teeth nashed together, "What is wrong with you, you stupid little shit?!"
"Dad!" Touya screams again, beginning to shake violently, "Dad! He's… He's-!"
How can his Father not see the man? He's right there! He's there, right behind his Father, playing with fire, a psychotic gleam in his eye.
His Father turns again to where he's pointing, still not seeing the man with the patchwork face, "What the hell are you screaming about!"
When Touya kept screaming and Enji smacked him in the face, "stop yelling!"
"Make him go away! Go away! Get away!"
Enji's flames on his face flare in anger, grabbing the boy by the collar and drawing his fist back, "delusional, useless little brat."
Touya cowers as Endeavor loses his temper and lets it all out on him.
The stranger watched the entire beating, a sadistic grin on his face, playing with the blue fire in his hands, Touya's fire .
"I'll leave when we die."
..
Touya's ten when he tells someone about the strange man he keeps seeing everywhere.
"Do you see him right now?" His Mother asks, biting her lip.
Touya nods only once, avoiding the cold stare of blue eyes watching from the window. Touya can't tell if the stranger is inside the window or standing outside looking in.
"Well, what does he look like?" Rei asks, looking around. Her eyes pass right over where the man is standing.
"He… is a grown up, has black hair, and... scars, or something, all over him, they're being held onto him with staples." He whispers, "I'm scared, he won't go away."
"If you didn't want me in your life then you shouldn't have let me in." The man says, suddenly right beside him, speaking right into his ear.
Touya flinched away, feeling the cold breath on his face.
"Just ignore it." Rei says, cradling Shouto in her arms, "ignore him and he'll go away."
"He won't." Touya insists, "he's been here since I was little."
"He will, Touya." She said, tears in her eyes, "All the scary things that arent there will go away."
The man with the patchwork face laughs loudly, Touya flinched but hisbMom and toddler brother don't even hear it.
"I dont want him here anymore."
"I'll leave when we die."
.
Touya is eleven when his Father grows tired of him, throws him aside when Shouto shows a better quirk than his. Touya endured years of punishment and harsh training… and for nothing. He has nothing to show for it but scars and fear.
"I miss when you and I had scary dreams." The scarred man says as Touya sits on his bed, trying to keep himself from falling asleep.
He hasn't slept in days. No one seems to notice. No one notices Touya anymore.
Touya has nightmares. Horrible, bloody, beautiful nightmares where he stabs his Father to death with one of the kitchen knives. Nightmares were he burns the entire house down with his Father inside. Where he beats his Father to death with the closest blunt object until his head is smashed into mush.
Every single dream the man with the patchwork face is there, grinning, encouraging him.
He's terrified of those dreams. This… this demon must be doing it, must be making him have these nightmares. The scarred man has to be a demon, he doesn't know what else could be that horrible and evil.
"Go away." Touya says.
The man stands in front of him, waving fire in his face and watching Touya's eyes fill with fear.
"C'mon, you without me doesn't make any sense. I just wanna have some fun, why don't we make those scary dreams a reality. I want to. I know you want to."
"Shut up! I don't!" He yells back at the figure.
The man moves quickly, only a few feet away as Touya crawls back until he hits the headboard of his bed.
"I'm always here for you, how come you're never there for me?"
"Leave me alone!" Touya cries, grabbing his hair, yanking on the messy strands, beating his fists against his head. "Go away!"
His door creaks open, a spiky head of white running into the room, "Touya, are you okay?"
Fuyumi's there too, shushing him as she shoots a nervous look towards the door, "Dad will hear you yelling. He'll be mad at you."
"Make him go away!" Touya sobs, "he won't go away!"
"Touya, there's no one here! That scary guy with the scars isn't real!" Natsuo insists, trying to touch Touya but the blue flames beginning to burn in his shoulders makes the younger brother back away.
"What, you don't like the prison I built you?" His voice is so cruel, it sounds like Touya's Father. Fire is burning on his body, smoke pouring from between the staples, blue flames burn on his face as he comes in closer, inches away from Touya's shivering body.
The stranger's fire looks like Touya's, feels hot like his Father's, reminds him of the training, of the punishment, of being forced to keep his quirk activated as it burns through every layer of skin.
"Leave me alone, please." He begs.
Burning hands grab his thin wrists, yank his hands away from his hand and squeeze until blue flames eat into his arms, burn them, Touya stares into the man's eyes, his own eyes.
"I'll leave when we die."
..
Touya is twelve when the accident happens. He heard Mother screaming, Shouto crying, Endeavor yelling. He stayed in his room the entire time, curled up in the corner covering his ears.
When Shouto cannot train, Touya gets a second chance, and it's worse. It's longer, more intense. Father is even more angry, more rough, beats him even worse than before.
Touya cries in his room, body covered in so many burns and bruises and welts. He's sure he's got a few broken bones. He tried . He did, he doesn't want to be weak. He doesn't want to be useless. He doesn't want to make his Father angry and start training Shouto again when his eye heals.
Rei would have iced his burns, kissed the bruises, wiped away the tears. But she's gone. He's alone. He isn't allowed to play with Natsuo and Fuyumi anymore again. He doesn't see them or Shouto. He only sees his Father. He only feels heat. His body isn't made for the heat, it hurts so bad. He's made for the cold.
"I wish mom was here." He sobs into the pillow to no one.
"Yeah, we all do so we wouldn't have to hear about it." The rough voice mocks him, hateful, cruel, bitter.
Touya cries harder.
"The old bastard is right. You are a useless weakling. Look at you." A cold hand grabs his arms, pressing into the bandages, making him wine. "You're pathetic. Worthless. Whiny little brat. I fucking hate the sight of you. I'll kill you one day. You're pitiful. How are you so weak?"
Touya can't even fight out of the vice-like grip on his wrists. He can't turn away from the man's face as he leans in close, the staples catching the light, the sadistic gleam in his eyes as he pressed harder on the burned arms and leans closer into his face, "don't you wanna make it all go up in flames? Watch it all burn to the ground?"
Touya pulls weakly, trying to free himself as he shakes his head, pleading with the demonic image.
"C'mon, let's go outside!"
He's suddenly yanked to his feet, shoved towards his bedroom door. The stranger's hand burns through the metal knob like it's nothing and Touyas arm aches and blisters as his bandages leak and melt into his skin.
The man grabs him again, pushing him into the hall, dragging him down it towards the living room. Touya fights, trying to get away, trying to convince himself it isn't real. It feels so real.
He's dragged through the back door, thrown onto his hands and knees under the night sky. Tears roll down his cheeks, his shoulders shake uncontrollably as he sobs, "please, go away."
"This is what you wanted, isn't it? To be out in the open for everyone to see!" The stranger screams, the staples in his facel tear, blood drips from the ones under his eyes.
"Leave me alone!" Touya shrieks.
Hands land on his shoulders, rubbing them in an almost soothing way as the patchwork stranger bends down to whisper in his ear, "you can't get rid of me. I told you, I'll be here until you die. So be grateful."
Suddenly the hands get hot, too hot, blue flames igniting from them, catching Touyas shirt on fire, burning his shoulders and back.
"Touya!" Someone screams, but he isn't sure who it is. It sounds soft and high, like Fuyumi, maybe Shouto. He isn't sure.
The fire eats away at him, down his back, the hands wrap around his throat and he chokes as they squeeze and burn the tenser, sensitive flesh of his neck.
"You worthless fucking brat! So now you use your goddamn fire? What was all that fuss about in the dojo earlier?!" Fathers voice booms, the door slamming shut. "Knock it off! Get inside!"
Touya gasps for air, his neck burned raw when the demon finally let's go of him and stands back to grin at him, watching him burn.
"Get him away! Please, get him away!" Touya screams.
"Crazy little bastard, just like your goddamn mother." A hand grabs Touyas hair and he shrieks, fire bursting from his face. Enji lets him go, hissing and cursing at the heat. He drives a boot into the boys side, "get control of your quirk! Turn it off!"
He can't. He's trying but it won't stop, he can't make it stop. He looks at the scarred figure, grinning wide at him, clearly amused by his suffering.
"Let it burn." The figure says, watching the scene from behind Endeavor. "I know it hurts, but you need to learn to cope with it."
He's doing this. That… that demon, that monster, he's doing this to him.
"Stop! Please, make him go away!"
"That fucking thing you see isn't real, you nutcase! Now stop being stupid and turn off your flames! Now!" Endeavor tries to reach him again, but the fire is getting hotter, burning at his back and neck, crawling down his arms. The ground begins to burn. "Touya!"
"Dad! What do we do?" Fuyumi screams, panic in her voice, horror and fear as Touya begins to beg her to help him.
"Take your brothers and go inside! Now!"
"Dad-"
"Go!"
Touya screams as the fire climbs up his jaw, burning his face. It's under his eyes, he can't see. He can hear the stranger laughing at him.
"Stop it, Touya! I swear if you don't…" Enji tries to get closer to Touya, but the fire keeps burning brighter and brighter, engulfing him. "Stop, Touya! Stop!"
There's panic and fear in his Father's voice, worry, maybe. Father has never worried for him, no matter how bad he was hurt, how much he threw up, how hard he cried.
His bandages burned away, his skin going with it. Touyas fingers dug helplessly into the grass, burning the blades of green. He feels his nerves scream as they burn off and die.
"Touya!"
He collapses, everything going dark, fading away, he falls into it.
Is he finally dying? Is this how he goes? Being killed by a figment of his imagination in the backyard?
The last thing he sees is the stapled, scared face, burning blue eyes, and wide, unhinged grin leering at him cruelly.
..
Touya wakes up and he doesn't know where he is. He feels cold, his muscles are stiff and sore, his skin pulls when he sits up in the unfamiliar bed.
His eyes burn, his throat is raw and blistered inside, it hurts to breathe. He can smell smoke, chemicals, and burnt skin. There's fresh white bandages wrapped around his arms, his neck, he can feel them on his back and legs.
"Where am I?" He asks the empty room. He gets up and almost falls over when his legs give out. It hurts… everything hurts. But there's no one there…
His Father isn't there… neither is Fuyumi, or Natsuo, or Shouto… there are no doctors, no nurses…
The scary man with the stapled skin isn't there either.
He uses the wall to support himself, eyes catching sight of himself in the mirror, his face covered in bandages. On his jaw up to his mouth, under his eyes…
"No…" He slowly makes it to the mirror, hands shaking as he begins to unwrap the gauze. His eyes widen, fill with tears.
"No…" he removed the bandages under his eyes, on the lower half of his face, and stares at the ruined flesh.
"No." There's thick, dark scars, hideous and rubbery in texture under both eyes, on the lower half of his face. They're held in place with metal staples… just like…
He smashes the mirror, screams, falls, scrambles away from the reflection in the broken glass.
"I told you I'd leave when we die…" the cruel voice mocks him, echoing in his head, "and we ain't died yet."