Chapter Text
Dabi/Touya grits his teeth tightly back to the wall his hand wrapped around a necklace with shard of crystal (that had once been apart of one of the only necklaces Himiko had owned) and another more jagged shard piece, of a games console (that had belonged to Tenko and Spinner) along with a thin piece of twisted metal (that had been apart of Magne’s magnet once upon a time) in his other hand is clutched a broken pocket watch (that was formerly Compress’s) and tied around his upper arm splattered with patches of blood was a piece of black and grey fabric (that had once been apart of Jin’s mask) holding memento’s of long gone allies and friends. Sure, Jin and Magne had been lost before All for One’s little culling, Jin to the hero’s precious golden boy Keigo Takami and Magne to that uppity Yakuza dickwad Chisaki but it didn’t mean he didn’t remember them… he remembered everyone he’d ever seen die or killed himself. Back against the wall his quirk twisting and writhing inside of his body begging to be unleashed he feels so many eyes on him he knows the once hero hopeful’s now some of only survivors of All for One’s country wide culling are staring at him because of what just happened the final loss of Himiko to them Toga was a harrowing thing that no one should’ve witnessed to be partially decayed then impaled upon black and red tendrils before having a building gradually dropped on top of her crushing her into a bloody smear of viscera no one deserved a death such as that Villain or not.
Tucked away in the maze of alleyway’s of a ruined Mustafu the former Villain turned resistance general burns with barely restrained fury as all these former hero hopeful’s turned ragtag resistance army stare at him something akin to pity and or perhaps sympathy dancing in their gazes they knew that Toga was all that was left of his friend group and as much as they may not have liked the League they understood that he was someone who’d just lost the last meaningful thing to him. Dabi/Touya grinds his teeth down flames flickering across his shoulders and in his hair slipping the pocket watch back into his pocket and releasing his hold on his necklace shards stepping away from the wall stalking towards the alleyway entrance only to feel a cold hand wrap around his wrist and another warmer one coming to rest on his shoulder he looks back the dragon in his chest roaring at the perceived attempt to stop him from enacting vengeance upon the quirked up bastard of a usurper who’d taken away his last friend smoke making its way from his mouth swirling up into the air around him adding to his currently demonic looking appearance as he turns to face… his Otōto Shouto and the reckless living piece of broccoli Izuku Midoriya, “let me go” he simply says in a tone as cold as the arctic but his eyes burning tumultuous hellfire, “I can’t do that Nii-san I’m sorry I’m so sorry” Shouto says with his always impassive blank face the only exception being that his eyes burn with sympathy and sorrow “I’m so sorry Touya-san but you going on a vengeance trip against All for One right now will only get you killed and hurt us all in the long run” says Midoriya in a soft subdued tone, Dabi’s/Touya’s eyes burn into them about to snap that he doesn’t care he’ll drag the other to hell in a blazing inferno himself as a crash echoes down the alleyway along with a shriek of pure agony. Bright glowing turquoise eyes snap in the direction and due to astonishment and confusion no one is able to stop him as he bolts from the mouth of the alley without hesitation into the ruined main street of the city.
He sees the shambling body of All for One/Shigaraki ambling down the street chasing after a small figure with long floppy brown hair wearing a tattered worn dirty white hospital shift and from what can be seen a body marred by very precise and purposeful looking scarring that makes Dabi’s/Touya’s gut roil they topple over with a painful thud and crack of a bone, they were clearly younger than him younger than the rest of the former hero hopeful’s in fact Dabi/Touya would bet other than Eri this would be the youngest individual he’d seen to date; and they are petrified tears falling in torrents down their cheeks unable to move as All for One in Shigaraki’s body reaches out to grab them. They flinch expecting to feel sensei’s hand clamping down on his shoulder only to feel someone else grab them by the back of their shift leading to them being abruptly yanked out of the centuries old quirk users immediate grabbing range. They feel themselves dangling in a one-armed grip as searing heat passes barely overhead and a wall of tall blue flames moves to block the form of the white haired red eyed man who’d told them to call him sensei. They twist and contort their form to try and catch sight of their saviour and the first thing they notice is mostly black hair with streaks of iridescent bright snow white and bright turquoise blue eyes followed by familiar purple scarring he’d caught mere glimpses of this man years ago on a broken television set in a dingy underground cell while being hidden from the world because of their quirk this was the rogue Ex-LOV member and resistance leader that had always frustrated and aggrieved sensei their so just by continuing to exist when their sensei had deemed that he shouldn’t. This was Dabi or rather Touya… Todoroki Touya. Sensei yells through the blaze “Todoroki-san if you know what’s good for you you’ll hand Ryokō-sha over to me and I may be inclined to look the other way to your presence for several months, they go limp in the former villain’s hold they were going to go back no one would be insane enough to turn down immunity from sensei for multiple collective months that was a chance to gather up enough resources to get out of the area of control of Japan to freedom and Jikan knew that Dabi/Touya being as high up on sensei’s hitlist could do with all the leniency sensei could care to offer.
Jikan understood that much this was a deal Dabi/Touya couldn’t afford to refuse but they look on in pure shock as the former Villain simply smirks and states “when have I ever done what was good for me All for One… seriously name one time?!” his right arm hand and shoulder ignited in flames. He put Jikan down gently behind him bodily shielding them from Sensei’s sight. Dabi/Touya bares his teeth in a downright feral snarl his other arm igniting and a halo of fire erupting around his hair “what makes you think I’d ever let you weaponize another kid’s quirk after what you tried to do to me after what you DID do to Tenko” he roars spitting plumes of blue flames from his mouth like the dragons Jikan had read about in an old tattered fairy tale book, Jikan hadn’t known what to expect from today’s runaway attempt but they’d never anticipated getting a fierce dragon protector they’d believed no one would care enough to try and save them from sensei why risk yourself for some random kid by defying and even attempting to go up against Japan’s number one super villain then again he supposes Dabi or rather Touya Todoroki wasn’t most people, Jikan remembered what he did see of the final fight between the ex-villain now resistance leader against his so called “father” the former pro hero Endeavour, despite what All for One sensei might have thought they didn’t watch those old fights back to learn more about enemies and allies but rather to bask in the feeling of someone else defeating their childhood monster/fear were as others either feared or hated Dabi usually both in some 60:40 split Jikan had admired and respected him for having the fortitude to go up against someone who caused him so much pain to take a hold of everything the man had worked for and ruin it in one fell swoop with a plan that he’d been preparing in the shadows perfectly for years that went off without a hitch seriously it was like Dabi/Touya went “oh you got majorly traumatised by your dad and because of your dad as a kid and teen…plan a decade long master plan to dish back twice as much trauma while totalling his career, the family image, his reputation and even his precious perfect power”, seriously it was like “severely traumatise me will you… well fine two can play that game *ruins life and everything he’s ever worked for by coming back from the dead and existing on a can of 18 hour energy and pure unadulterated spite*.
Jikan had survived on the hope that they could one day do something similar to their so called ‘Sensei’, like they didn’t know much about their quirk bar its name on the quirk registry: TOTALITY and the fact that it made them incredibly dangerous and volatile according to sensei saying that everyone else would only be safe if they stayed by sensei’s side or their quirk could go out of control, Jikan had never really liked the finality of their quirk’s name it was like that flashing screen they’d seen on a broken tv years ago that simply read:
……._GAME OVER_…….
Of course, they’d been punished from leaving their allocated room to explore their location further they’d been punished for going into a dusty old room holding boxes of game cartridges, games consoles and controllers with a very plain colour scheme and an old unmade bed and piles of old clothes along with a simple closet desk and what they believed was a computer set up and a half broken tv screen flashing with that message in the corner. They hadn’t liked the supposed finality of their quirk either like they were terrified to touch anything or anyone on the fear that their quirk cancelling bands could short out or become inert and that they could hurt or even kill someone well that was a lie they wouldn’t be afraid to touch sensei with their bands inactive or inert in fact if it rid the world of the monster that was sensei forever then they would do it the only thing this damnable quirk was good for was destruction.
The barely pre-teen child stood trembling behind Dabi/Touya who flares his fire hotter and higher to shield the other from view more while snarling vitriolic comments at All for One to keep the ancient quirk users’ attention fully on him if there was anything Dabi had excelled at from a young age even as Touya Todoroki it was weaving sentences so vitriol ridden and aggressive that other’s would have to immediately turn their attention towards him, it had worked with his short fused father for years within that hell hole of a house and while All for One may not be cut from the same cloth as his father he’d been aggravating the other with his mere impossible existence for multiple years now enough to know the other was already barely restraining his boiling over fury and rage. He attempts to nudge the kid back into the alleyway he’d run from feeling familiar cold brushing against his back his Otōto’s wordless confirmation that he was still here and had his back, if necessary, it was sweet but unnecessary he and the former hero hopeful’s needed to take the kid and run as far and fast as possible away from here as soon as he herded the other into the mouth of the alleyway. Dabi was going to buy them some time to flee he thinks as sparks and tendrils of fire begin to flare around the rest of his form as he prepares to practically throw himself into another suicidal fight, “that’s a pretty nasty scar” he states with a caustic tone and a sharp upturn of his mismatched lips referring to the absolutely brutal scar that marrs the right side of All for One’s new host body’s face neck, right side of upper torso and shoulder. Something that he knows is a sharp sore point as it’s a mark of the day of his betrayal a reminder of Dabi’s/Touya’s fury ridden exit from the League of Villain’s near 3 years ago taking several prominent figures with powerful quirks with him of his unexpected rage driven eruption on an unsuspecting All for One who was still readjusting to his new body and hadn’t been expecting a violent eruption from one of his heirs top, most cold, calculated and apathetic generals who didn’t seem to care for anyone among the league or the meta liberation army so All for One had never seen his outburst coming until he had a literal face full of fire and several creative yet vitriolic statements hurled his way Dabi/Touya managed to burn most of his upper right body before Toga in the form of Geten (he’s not sure how she pulled that one off most of the MLA didn’t like to fork over some of their blood to Toga unlike most members of the league who didn’t care even Dabi had given her enough of his own blood for several transformations stressing that they would only be used in emergency situations as a threat to their enemies he had no idea what would happen if she did transform into him not wanting her to be in crushing debilitating pain he’d long grown numb to) latched onto him and hauled him away as he was hissing and snarling vitriolic threats towards All for One promising him a slow agonising death trying to escape the icy grip of whom he thought was Geten only to see fangs poking out were they are worrying the other’s lower lip as his flames still flared wildly without restraint as he was dragged out into and down the corridor into an old unused room in the base he felt himself get released and coming face to face with Toga-Geten who attempted to calm him but in turn only ended up getting riled up herself as Dabi/Touya told her that Shiggy was gone and All for One had replaced him usurped his body no less not to mention Kurogiri’s suspicious disappearance Touya remarked eerily that it was definitely something to do with that untrustworthy Doctor at All for One’s beck and call. Toga dragged him to what remained of the original LOV members, and he told them what happened, and they all made the executive decision to leave the combined LOV & MLA as none of them felt apart of the cause anymore. Which All for One really hadn’t appreciated so he put a bounty out on all of their heads and slowly the numbers had dwindled until it was just him and Himiko left…
And now he’d taken her as well there wasn’t much that had kept him from careening over the cliff of revenge and pure insanity again but what remained of the LOV being in danger had forced him to keep a level head and think out strategies and exit plans for multiple individuals as they were being chased by members of the MLA and new league along with bounty hunters/mercenaries and even just some desperate regular civilians now with his team mates and friends completely gone and a small kid tucked away behind him Dabi/Touya sees no reason to hold onto his forced calm or a semblance of control anymore. The kid has been following his lead backing up slightly every time he did slightly, they’ve almost backed up into the mouth of the alleyway close enough that one of the others could grab the kid and bolt leaving him to combat the ancient fucktard of a usurper. He throws himself into his fire and strikes a stunned All for One hard across the face with a fistful of fire only to be smashed back into a nearby building with a mixture of air cannon and a strength enhancing quirk All for One is completely focused on him cursing his impudent nature and dysfunctional quirk, so he doesn’t see black whip curling carefully around the kid pulling them into the alleyway. He doesn’t feel a slight chill brushing against Dabi’s/Touya’s back before receding which he knows is Shouto’s nonverbal way of saying he’s retreating and to try and not get himself fucking killed that he better meet them back at the underground camp or Shouto will loose what’s left of his shit. He smirks ferally at the rage filled All for One who’s snarling his own harsh vitriolic comments as to him Dabi/Touya was no threat he was inconsequential meaningless purposeless and worthless due to his dysfunctional nature, Dabi/Touya just decides to rile the other up further “my dysfunctional worthless quirk and self was enough to severely scar your so-called perfection” he comments eyes alight with a mocking glint fire flaring around his entire form as All for One races at him with a furious roar smashing him diagonally through the rest of the building with a brutal kick. Dabi/Touya hits the ground with a crash his body creating a large impact crater he feels parts of his grafts tear away from his body he lets out a noise the is halfway between a groan of pain and a snarl of rage, his arm feels broken and his ankle is possibly fractured but the pain simply pushes him to push his fire further to bite his tongue and grit his teeth to manage the pain he forces himself to keep going even if his body is breaking and literally falling apart on him he feels blood dripping down his forehead his temples, hairline and the back of his neck but he just snarls through tightly grit teeth and with some assistance from a flame propulsion technique he pulls himself from the crater.
With Clearly broken bones, skin grafts falling away and severely bloodied looking like death warmed over like he’d just pulled himself out of his grave Dabi/Touya walks lopsidedly his left arm dangling uselessly very visibly broken with little pieces of concrete sticking out from in his fire flaring higher and hotter around his form towards All for One who looks a mixture of astounded and incredulous “WHAT” snarls Dabi/Touya an inferno burning in his bright turquoise gaze “you think I’ll just lay down and die from that” he states with a scoff lumbering towards the other flames spiting from his twisted lips “you know what’ve survived you should know by now if you want me to stop YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE SURE I’M FUCKING DEAD AND BURIED, THAT I’M LOST TO THE AETHER WELL AND TRULY OR I’LL JUST KEEP COMING BACK TO HAUNT YOU AND THIS WORLD WITH MY PRESENCE!!”. Dabi/Touya races towards and latches onto still stunned All for One tightly with one hand a twisted wild smirk curving his lips as they’re both engulfed by a pillar of cerulean blue fire All for One lets out a roar of pain as the fire just burns hotter and further finding no matter what he did he couldn’t get away from Dabi’s blazing inferno as it filled the ruined street and all surrounding buildings plumes of smoke impairing sight and rising up into the sky as a clear indicator of what was happening, incredulous blood red eyes meet wild turquoise blue as Dabi/Touya laughs manically as All for One roars quirks lashing out but Dabi/Touya somehow stood his ground teeth grit fire not budging or weakening even as decay spread slowly through his body “you’re going to die too Todoroki! this can’t be what you want from life” a wider unhinged smirk splits open Dabi’s/Touya’s lower face “I should’ve DIED 15 Years AGO!! but you decided that I was still necessary to the world or rather to your plans and kept me alive, this was your mistake… ALL FOR ONE!” he screams pushing his flames farther than he ever had before they begin to burn sunburst hot as Dabi/Touya pours out more and more power clearly burning up he meets the gaze of All for One who was truly beginning to struggle in earnest now as bright white cracks begin to appear all over the manically laughing Dabi’s/Touya’s form. White, blue, red orange and gold flames spiral out of Dabi’s/Touya’s form as bright white glow flows out of his body sunburst hot and still rising in power and intensity as a bright white glow envelopes both him and All for One obscuring them from sight as the loud sound of an explosion sounds off and fire flares out in all directions incinerating everything in its path from the remnants of the road, streets, and all surrounding buildings.
Over 18 Blocks away everyone feels intense heat flare up at their backs the all snap around to see a bright white glow off in the distance encapsulating several blocks Todoroki’s eyes widen and he moves as if to bolt back the way they came only to be grabbed by black whip from behind and near bodied into a nearby wall by Bakugo who tackled him in case Izuku couldn’t keep up his power due to quirk exhaustion and now has him pinned on the ground “DON’T even think about it SHITTY Half and Half we can’t GO BACK for HIM NOT NOW NOT WITHOUT RISKING Everything we’ve ALL worked TOWARDS”, Shouto scream’s fire and ice flaring across his body weakly due to exhaustion “I DON’T CARE I’LL GO BACK ALONE KATSUKI THAT’S MY FUCKING NIISAN I WON’T LEAVE HIM TO DIE ALONE…I Can’t….not again…he can’t die alone again… that’s just not fair…
Izuku deactivates black whip and makes his way over to the downed Todoroki sadness and sorrow glinting in his gaze he knows that the Todoroki siblings had already been through this once before and that it had just about shattered them all in different ways and that this time it would hurt so much more for Shouto considering how close he’d managed to get to his older brother this time around. He draws Shouto into a tight hug along with Katsuki as the other begins to sob in earnest screaming his sorrows into Katsuki’s chest and fisting his hands into Izuku’s tattered cloak. “I can’t lose him” mutters Shouto icy tears falling from his left side and boiling hot tears falling from his right side “not again…I only just got him back… please don’t make me leave him… he can’t leave this world believing that we left him to die alone again… at least one of us should be there this time”. Izuku shakes his head sadly “I’m sorry Shouto we can’t let anyone go back over there, it was already a dead zone due to its vicinity to one of All for One’s main bases of operation but who knows what’s happened now after Touya just released all of his power he did this to buy us time to get us and the kid All for One was chasing to safety”. Shouto just clutches them both harder still sobbing his quirk flaring up sporadically before he passes out completely wrung out both physically and emotionally some icy tears still clinging to his left cheek. Izuku knows they’ve no more time to waste they need to get to the partially collapsed entrance of the Tokyo met lines an abandoned maze of twists, turns and tunnels. They all run at breakneck speeds through the shadows of the ruined buildings Katsuki at the front leading them forward Izuku bringing up the rear urging the others to move faster Todoroki in his arms the barely pre-teen kid secured safely to his back, they make it to the partially collapsed tunnel’s entrance they then all navigate the labyrinth of underground former metro tunnel’s.
They all make it back to their hidden camp were after Izuku has carefully put Todoroki down on a nearby futon as well as releasing his hold on the kid Touya had decided to risk his life for the kid looks around wildly with bright glowing gold eyes running their hands through long unruly chestnut brown hair Izuku took note of high-tech quirk suppression bands around their wrists, they look majorly high strung and extremely upset pacing back and forth with increasing speed muttering, “should’ve done something…I should’ve done something…by the cosmos why did I just stand there…I could’ve helped… it would be the only good thing my quirk would ever do” they say as they collapse into an old chair folding in on themselves crying silently and shaking. And that’s not right Izuku pauses in his conversation with an over exuberant Mei who notices how his gaze has wondered and motions for him to go and talk to the kid to get them out of their head before they spiralled even further. “Hey… I’m Izuku mind if I sit here” he says softly gesturing to the worn sofa opposite the seat they were curled upon bright gold eyes meet Viridian green and the kid nods softly unsure clearly unused to being asked things before they happened to them, Izuku sits down carefully on the right side of the old sofa far enough away from the kid that they’re out of immediate reach, to help them to feel more in control of the situation but close enough that there’s ease to talking with the kid. “So, what’s your name?” he asks gently, silence for a few minutes the kid is clearly debating whether they should say anything or not a few minutes later “Jikan…” replies the kid in an almost whisper “my name is Jikan Ryokō-sha ”.
Meanwhile moving away from the inner streets of Mustafu to the outskirts
All for One moves his severely burned left away from his face with a grimace of pain realising he cannot feel his right hand or arm anymore which leads to him discovering that his right arm had been disintegrated to ash at the shoulder even with all the quirks that had been active while taking the brunt of the supernova esque eruption from the eldest Todoroki child who’d now burned himself and that cursed quirk away with him. Well at least he wouldn’t have to deal with the insolent brat anymore he thinks as he begins to move away from the sight of his attempted murder and the dysfunctional Todoroki’s final resting place. He returns to his manor on the edge of Mustafu, staying out of sight of his most sycophantic allies and followers just about making it to Doctor Garaki’s lab heavily wounded but unseen by anyone the barest remnants of his suit clinging to his severely burned form for all its fireproofing the suit hadn’t been able to stand up to the full unexpected power and intensity of the now dead Todoroki’s flames.