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Himiko Toga stumbled across the ruined building of the Paranormal Liberation Front headquarters. The uneven and shattered ground cut at the sole of her foot, numbly Toga realized that she must have lost a shoe along the way. She wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed since the war ended. It can’t have been more than a day, though. The wounded of both sides had been evacuated, but as she got closer to the headquarters, the bodies remained untouched. Something else must have called the heroes away from the site, whether it meant something good or bad for the League, Toga didn’t know.
Normally she would be off twirling to collect the precious red liquid, but Toga couldn’t find the heart to bother without someone to sing to. It was like her world became clouded in a soundless blanket of grey once Twice melted away.
She had tried to follow the trail of destruction left by Gigantomachia, but the giant moved too fast for Toga to keep up. As she travelled, she caught whispers of news declaring an end to the battle and Dabi’s voice mingled in somewhere, though Toga didn’t catch much of the words. Static buzzed in the gaps, she overheard the sentence “Compress….. League… captured… status unknown.”
The reporter’s words stopped her dead in her tracks, was it only the Mister captured? Or were they all gone? Folding in on herself, Toga placed a hand to her mouth to prevent the raw gasping from escaping. The Mister was trapped with the heroes. She hadn’t seen the boss in months; Spinner looked fine, but Dabi was already looking terrible before the real fight even started. And Twice.
Not even a knife to the heart could hurt her as much as the thought of Twice.
Later she would rage and scream and curse Hawks. But right now, Toga felt no other emotion than pure grief. Without knowing what or where her body was, Toga had a vague knowledge of moving. Of dragging herself hand over hand across walls—instinct leading her back to the one person, she considered home.
She wanted to return to simpler times when Kurogiri polished glasses behind the bar and Big Sis Magne welcomed her back with gentle hugs. She wished Mr.Compress would appear around the corner and call her ‘darling’ or ‘little Toga,’ really any name that showed she was important. What she wouldn’t give to be sitting, watching Tomura and Spinner argue over whatever game they were playing, as Dabi subconsciously braided her hair.
She missed Twice.
He is was her treasured big brother. Toga can literally feel her heart shattered at the thought. Twice wouldn’t be there anymore. He wouldn’t laugh at her jokes, no more pranks on Shigaraki either. Who would take her out for blood boba down at the black market or let her know if an outfit looked cute? She felt another hole in her chest. Any hideout from now on wouldn’t smell like those cheap cigarettes Twice liked to smoke. Never again. Toga had to stop and support herself on a broken section of the walls as new grief washed over her.
When she finally arrived back at the headquarters, the sun had disappeared; only the remains of blue fire lit her search. Luckily, her eyes had always been well suited for finding things in the dark—a life born for living in the shadows. But even for Toga, trying to find who she was looking for was like searching for a drop of water in a sea of blood.
Toga tripped, her exhausted legs finally giving way. She landed hard on her palms, stinging pain shot through the whole of her arms. Toga prided herself on her ability to always pop up, but this time though, she only fell back lower. Her fingers dragged across the loose gravel, her nails breaking with the force they raked over the rocks.
Pressing her face on the ground, Toga sighed, too tired to cry. World-weary Toga stared without seeing the world. Just as she resigned herself to spending the night where she fell, the wind carried a soft piece of fabric into her cheek. Frustrated, she yanked it away. How dare this small black cloth interrupt her quitting, anger surging at the half of a two-toned grey circle.
The smell of stale cigarettes washed all those feelings away.
Scrabbling up, with an energy she didn’t know she still had, Toga dashed in the direction that the piece of Twice’s mask came from. Eyes combed the wrecked landscape until they caught a small section of blonde hair.
“Hey, Jin.”
Unlike the serene smile she had seen on the clone, Twice was frozen in a last desperate scream. “Your masked ripped again.” Toga gave a small sniffle as she leaned over “don’t worry, I’ll cover you up. Got to stay whole” She took out the hankie Twice had so generously returned to her and tucked in around his face. “There, that’s better right?”
Alone she curled up next to Twice’s hand and let sleep take her.
“Hey crazy, get up we have to go.”
Blearily Toga forced herself to blink her eyes open. In front of her, Dabi stood, albeit nearly entirely supported by a tired-looking Spinner.
“We have got to go before the heroes get here.” Dabi’s speech slurred, and his voice sounded wispy like he couldn’t get enough air to properly speak the words.
But there the two of them were. Alive. Not well perhaps but alive, and that was enough for Toga.
“Your hair’s white.” Toga let slip a watery smile as she let crystal tears fall down her face.
“Should have seen it. He put on quite the show. I’ll tell you all about it later since I’m the only one that stayed awake for the whole thing.” Spinner adjusted his hold on Dabi to point his free hand behind him; Dabi let out a hiss at the movement. “The boss was out for most of it too.”
Shigaraki stood solitary against the wind, with his back turned to them. “Tomura, you’re ok!” Relief flooded over Toga, three of her family were safe, and soon they could free the Mister and Kurogiri from the heroes.
Shigaraki gave the briefest of nods, but Spinner answered in his stead, “the boss still isn’t feeling well. He’s been busy with the prison break and all. But he was super worried about you.” We all were went unspoken, the fact that despite his own injuries, Spinner carried Dabi with them told Toga all she needed to know.
Toga wiped away the messy tears. Gently Spinner lowered Dabi on the large rock next to her. Even without fire, Dabi radiated an intense heat that threatened to burn anything that came near him. But after spending the night in the dead cold, the living warmth called to her. As Spinner began to carefully move the debris covering Twice, Toga moved to bury herself under Dabi’s arm.
“He was trying to get back to us.” Shaky fingers lacked the usual smooth motions as they detangled the many knots. “Twice wanted to tell you he would die fighting for the League’s happiness.”
The small red drop that landed on her hand mingled with her own tears.
“So he didn’t die lonely then.” Toga’s voice sounded distant to her own ears as if someone else had spoken.
“Twice is a member of my League,” Shigaraki’s hoarse voice reverberated with all the conviction of the world as he moved to stand over Twice, placing his coat over him. “He was brave and loyal, but most of all, he was a good person.”
A knot tied itself in Toga’s throat as Spinner took one of the knives off his sword, placing it in between Twice’s hands. “Twice embodied Stain’s will, and he protected his friends until the end.”
Dabi moved his hand away, raising it up to one of his ear piercings. “I got him good Twice.” Dabi fiddled with a silver ring in his fingers before placing it in Toga’s hand “you should have seen Hawks’ face when I told him. Couldn’t have done it without you buddy. Thanks for making my plan possible.”
She took her place next to Twice. Toga crouched down, resting on her toes, gently as to not disturb his rest; Toga placed the piercing on Twice’s chest. With Shigarki’s coat hiding any damage and the handkerchief over his face, Toga could almost pretend that Twice had just fallen asleep somewhere random.
“See, Jin, we came back for you.” More tears spilled over onto the handkerchief “cause that’s what a family does.” Gently she placed a kiss on Twice’s forehead, pouring into it every happy memory for Twice to take with him. “You are my precious big brother, after all.”
Toga went back to the three of them, hugging Dabi’s leg as the fire user stood unsteadily. Blue fire moved neither fast nor slow but dipped with purpose. First straight, then branching into a circle around Twice’s body before sweeping him away in a fiery dance. It was the softest Toga had ever seen Dabi use his quirk. The remaining League watched as Twice was set free, to a place where no one could ever misuse his trust against him.
Slowly as the fire died and they had to move on. Spinner took his place on Dabi’s side, Toga holding his other hand. Noticing the distance Shigaraki kept between them, Toga reached to link his pinky with hers, closing that lonesome gap.
With the last of Twice’s mask safely nestled in Toga's pocket, the three of them returned, together, to face the world.