Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Humans as a species often let a lot of things go unnoticed, it wasn’t that humanity was completely unobservant. It’s just that most thought too highly of themselves to observe the smaller things around them. 

Like animals for example. No animal was as smart as man, none had society and morals like a human does. At least that’s what most assumed, and when people pointed out things that didn’t quite add up they were called conspiracy theorists, mentally unwell. Like the idea of any other animal being as intelligent as the human race was as insane as believing in a shadow government run entirely by aliens. 

Dabi often let a lot of small things go unnoticed himself. He was focused on the bigger picture, his grand plan, things like cats with edgy looking collars didn’t bother him. When he stumbled upon an injured animal he never wondered how it got wounded. 

In the grand scheme of his life, such things had no purpose. But now he was wondering how nobody had noticed. How had none of this been reported? Or maybe it had and no one had listened. 

Dabi had been a cat for only a few hours and his entire understanding of the world had already been shattered. Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but as a kid even with the little education outside of hero training that he had gotten, he knew animals could not speak. 

It was just a fact that everyone had been taught, animals did not have a spoken language. Never had and probably never would. Unless it was an animal with a quirk. So Dabi was stunned into silence when after his transformation, a cat spoke to him. 

“You doin ok down there? Not lookin too hot.” An old voice croaked out to him. He jumped in surprise at hearing someone speak to him and looked up to see a scraggly old cat looking down at him.

“…. Me?” He meowed back, shocked to hear his very own raspy voice translated from the sounds he had just made. 

The older cat jumped down next to Dabi, causing him to startle and puff up a bit. The cat just tilted his head in concern. 

“If you need some help I know a place.” The cat said, looking at him with gentle eyes. His voice was.. scratchy, dry, it made Dabi’s ears twitch in annoyance. This was weird, this was so weird on so many levels.

“I- I think I need to sit down.” Dabi wheezed before flopping back into a sitting position. He looked down at his white paws, covered in short curly looking fur. His scars were there, covering most of his.. arms? Front legs? They were bad, bad enough for no fur to grow. But they didn’t need staples to stay together anymore.

In fact it seemed all his staples had fallen off after his transformation. He hadn’t bothered trying to look at himself, his situation still felt like some weird dream. And now there was a cat, talking to him. A cat was worried about him. 

“Do you have a name, young one?” asked the cat, Dabi looked back up to see he was now sitting next to him, patiently observing him with his tail curled around his paws.  

“I’m Cory, it’s a pleasure to meet ya.” 

Young? Dabi hadn’t been called young in a long time. It felt oddly comforting. But his name, he wasn’t really Dabi anymore was he? Dabi was a man hellbent on revenge and tearing down hero society, Touya was dead, he was a cat now. 

“I’m not sure I have one anymore.” Not until he changed back, that is. 

“That’s ok.” Cory said, he didn’t even try to pry. Dabi was not used to this treatment. “Like I said, I can help, if you would like it.”

Cory was oddly insistent about helping Dabi, it was putting him off. There was something weird about this cat, there had to be. How did cat society even work? Was this normal? 

“No, I should leave.” Dabi stood back up, unsteady on his fee- paws. It was better safe than sorry. 

Cory just dipped his head in acknowledgment and stood to leave, “This is a bad place to be, you’re near bloodclan territory, be careful.” Cory advised before finally walking away. 

Dabi watched the raggedy old cat leave in silence before actually thinking about what he had just been told. Bloodclan? Was that cat telling him there were cat gangs? The name sounded like something an edgy middle schooler would come up with, but if Cory deemed it important enough for him to worry about then he would at least take it into consideration.

The only issue was Dabi had no idea how to tell what territory he was in. How did cats know whose territory was whose? Were there other cat gangs he had to worry about? 

He sighed in frustration, tensing his paws and staring in mute surprise when claws appeared. He forgot cats could do that. He pulled a paw up to his face to inspect it, it was finally dawning on him how much damage a cat's claws could really do to him right now. He put his paw back down.

Walking in a random direction seemed like all he was able to do at the moment, so that’s what he did. Dabi wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, maybe someplace safe to stay, maybe he was just wandering. But he quickly noticed the weird looks other cats were sending his way. 

His ears flattened on his head as he glared right back at them. He was starting to really dislike cats, not that he was ever really a fan of them. Though maybe he shouldn’t start a fight he knew he had no way to finish. Dabi didn’t know the first thing about cat fighting, just that cats could be vicious about it. 

Ignoring them completely was difficult though.

The city was loud around him. Busy and dirty, it smelled like smoke and jobless pricks. He had been hit by the quirk in a bad spot, even for cats it seemed. They were everywhere, hiding in the stained boxes, under cars, on the roofs of buildings. Had there always been this many strays? Maybe so. 

Dabi’s nose hurt. 

His ears swiveled at every sound, ready to jump at the faintest implication of a threat. It’s how he heard the laughing. 

“What type of cat is that?” Dabi turned to see two cats sat up on a dumpster, one black and one brown and white. Both wore collars with strange looking spikes in them.

“He looks like a tree struck by sky fire!” The black cat replied, voice full of cruel mockery. They were talking about him. The other burst out laughing, before finally noticing that Dabi was glaring at them. 

“We got a problem, scarface?” The brown cat growled at him, looking down with a mean smile. Who would’ve guessed it, cats can smile too apparently. Dabi didn’t bother responding to the generic insult, simply turning and walking away. He didn’t need to lose the healthy skin he still had left. 

The cats had other ideas however, it seemed some animals had that same itch for conflict that people had. He didn’t even get a warning before the brown cat jumped down and charged him. His only saving grace was his big ears catching the noise before he could be hit. 

Dabi barely jumped to the side in time, surprising even himself with how nimble he was. He had felt the sharp daggers brush his fur. 

“Fuck you think you’re doing?” Dabi hissed, arching his back. 

“Don’t you know whose place you’re in?” The black cat meowed, having jumped down after seeing Dabi dodge his companion.  

“I don’t think he does, I’ve never seen a freak like him before.” The brown cat mocked, his claws still unsheathed. 

Dabi figured it was true, whatever breed of cat he was, it certainly wasn’t the norm around here. He was taller than them, slimmer too, but not in an unhealthy way, more of a sleek way. His fur was so short that from a distance it may look like he didn’t have any at all. 

“I say we show him.” If Dabi was human he would’ve burned them for even looking at him the way they had, but he knew when he was outmatched. Outnumbered too. 

Dabi had a lot of pride in his strength, but his main goal had always been survival, you learn quickly that it’s better to be a “coward” than dead. His long legs quickly proved to be good for escaping when he turned to run, he easily outpaced the two behind him, darting under cars and over fences. 

Sunlight reflecting off metal caught his eye, a fire escape, one that’s ladder wasn’t fully down on. He quickly made a beeline for it, not even slowing down before launching himself and slamming harshly into the metal. Dabi winced but brushed it off, running up the stairs as fast as he could without tripping. 

The steps suddenly shook beneath him, the sound of claws scraping on it made him wince. They were still behind him. Dabi made it to the roof and looked around desperately for a way out. 

There. The roof of a building next to the one he was on, it was a jump he wasn’t quite sure he could make, but he didn’t let himself hesitate. He charged full speed towards the edge of the roof, launching himself off and into the open air.

For a second it felt like he was flying, the wind raced past him as gravity caught up and started dragging him down. He hit the concrete of the roof, ribcage banging painfully on the edge, Dabi cringed in pain on impact but finished dragging himself fully onto the other side. 

The two cats had stopped at the ledge across from him, looking at him in disbelief. He spared them a single glance before he was back to running. Another fire escape down and he was on the ground once more. 

The asphalt was rough beneath his paw pads, as he darted through the people in the street and on the sidewalks. So many smells assaulted his nose but he tried to pay it no mind. He felt like he was in a daze. 

This entire situation wasn’t something he would’ve batted an eye at as a person. Two cats chasing down one? Not even worth a glance, now he felt differently. Probably because he was the cat being chased. 

He knew he’d lost them a while ago but he couldn’t let himself stop, he just kept running until his legs ached and he was wheezing for air, all that smoke inhalation was catching up to him. It always did. He let himself slow to a trot before fully stopping in a dark alley. 

The pain was also starting to catch up to him, starting in the scars on his legs and slowly spreading to the rest of his fucked up skin. He was barely able to make it to the end of the alley before he collapsed and curled up on himself. Shivering as the chronic pain finally hit full force, there was a reason he tried to run as little as possible.

Dabi’s ribcage ached from where he had hit the roof of that building. He could really use some-

Oh god, cats don’t have drugs, he was stuck like this, stuck with the pain. A small hiss escaped him as he tried to curl into himself even more on the dirty ground. He was panting and Dabi bet if he physically could he’d be sweating up a storm. 

He didn’t know how long he’d been laying there, but the sun had set at some point. All Dabi was focusing on was trying to convince himself that ending his life to get rid of the pain wasn’t worth it. How would a cat even go about doing that? He wondered if that was a thing cats also did that no one knew about.

Focus on something, anything else. Those cats earlier, what was up with their collars? They didn’t look like something a person would give a cat, let alone strays if that’s what those cats were. What had they called him? 

Tree struck by skyfire. What the hell did that even mean. He cracked his eyes open to look at the burns on his legs, rough, burnt. Like bark after- ah. He got it. A tree struck by lightning. Was it an insult to his height and his scars? Or just his scars. 

Another spasm of pain ran through his scars, causing him to shudder and groan. He lost his train of thought. What was-

“Well, isn’t this a pathetic sight.” An icy voice spoke up from behind him. 

Dabi immediately jumped to his paws, ignoring his own agony to arch himself and fluff up what little fur he had. He was in no condition to fight, but that didn’t mean he would go down easy, he reached into the void of hatred that rested within him and let out the most vicious hiss he could manage. 

He’d had to fight through pain many times before in his life, he never let it stop him.

His eyes fixated on a small dark figure standing in his only way out of the enclosed area. He immediately recognized it as a smaller cat, one with the coldest blue eyes he’d ever seen. This cat also wore a spiked collar, only it was purple and had much more in it than the other two had. 

“Take one more step, and I’ll kill you.” Dabi snarled, praying the cat didn’t test his bluff. The black feline seemed a little surprised by this response, clearly not expecting much of a fight out of Dabi.

“Normally I wouldn’t let a threat like that slide, but you’ve caught me in a good mood.” The cat's tail flicked slowly behind him, the only indication that this cat had any emotion rolling around that tiny head of his. 

Dabi didn’t say anything in response, opting to continue glaring at him instead. His front legs tensed in pain again and his claws audibly scratched the pavement below him. The black feline's ear twitched at the noise. 

“You show a surprising amount of fight for someone in your… condition.” He waved a white paw in his direction, not an all black cat then. 

“I’ll show you just how much fight I’ve got left in me if you’re thinking about trying something” Dabi took a small step forward, the cat didn’t react. 

“I suggest you come with me.” The cat said plainly, as if Dabi hadn’t just threatened him twice, “you won’t last long out here otherwise.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What do you get from it?” 

“You could consider it a gesture of good will, or maybe I just see some potential in you. You seem like you could make a good warrior, come with me or not. It’s your choice.” The cat then turned to leave, not even glancing back at Dabi. 

And Dabi, despite the pain still running through him, followed. Maybe it was the eyes that drew him in, they were void, just like his were every time he glanced in the mirror.  

He couldn’t see this ending well, it never did, certainly not for anyone who saw potential in him. But the cat was right, Dabi wouldn’t let himself risk dying here. 

This cat was unusually small too, he figured if he were to try anything, he could take him. 

“Name?” He grunted, not bothering to be polite about it. 

The cat turned his back slightly, eyes glinting under the moonlight. 

“My name is Scourge.”

Chapter Text

Sleeping on cardboard was a lot more comfortable as a cat than it was as a scrawny kid. He didn’t have to worry about the cold with his body resistant to ice, and his short white fur helped keep his body cooled down during the day. All in all he had it good right now. 

Well, as good as he could, curled up on a flattened cardboard box in an alley surrounded by edgy cats who couldn’t seem to stand the sight of him. 

It was very clear that Dabi was the odd one out here. After leading him to the alley with the others, all Scourge had told him to do was figure out his sleeping situation for the night before ditching him. Not very helpful, but then again the small cat didn’t seem like the helping kind. 

Scourge also no longer seemed like an easy opponent to defeat if needed, because as Dabi lay on the ground, the black cat lay on the abandoned dumpster leaned against the back wall of the alley. Right by him was the most muscular black and white cat Dabi had ever seen. Scourge looked down on the other cats as if this alley was his kingdom, but he felt like despite how small the cat was, his territory was far bigger than just this small area. 

Dabi was starting to think he accidentally joined bloodclan. 

When he was transformed he decided a go with the flow approach was probably his best option until he changed back, but of course Dabi’s luck had him joining a violent gang. Dabi didn’t even know if he was going to change back, or what the time limit may be. 

He killed the guy who turned him, at least he’s pretty sure he did. 

Either way dwelling on that right now got him nowhere, right now he needed to focus on figuring out how to navigate this new society. Currently he was still in “bed”, even with the sun high in the sky. 

No cat had actually apparoached him to give him any orders or direction, so he figured he was fine to stay like this for the time being. The rays of sunlight made him feel like stretching out to bask in the warmth but he didn’t dare move and expose his belly. 

Instead he stayed curled up in a tight ball by the left wall. Observing the cats as they went. 

There was quite a few in the area, talking and coming in and out. A small pile of food was by the dumpster and every once in a while a cat would come in and add to it or grab a piece. Dabi himself was hungry, but he knew food didn’t come without doing something to earn it first. 

The black cat and brown and white cat were both in the alley with him now. They had gone up to talk to Scourge before settling by the front end of the right wall. They looked disgruntled, sending nasty looks his way and snickering under their breath. 

Now that there was nothing else for him to do, he decided to take the opportunity to observe his only truly known enemy at that moment. Those two cats. 

The black one was tall, and sleek, built for speed with bright gold eyes and a white collar. He almost didn’t have any spikes in it, but the thing looked slightly bloodstained. Or maybe that was just mud. In contrast, the shorter fluffy brown and white cat had a red collar with a bone pattern on it, it was full of the spikes and was tangled in his unkempt fur. 

It was also much too big for him… was that a dog collar? 

Gold eyes shot a glare his way when he noticed Dabi staring. Dabi averted his gaze, probably not his smartest move but oh well. He looked back over to Scourge only to see a cream and brown cat walking straight towards him. Was that a Siamese cat? He noticed the glittering pink collar fit perfectly around her fur, someone was definitely missing this cat. 

Why was she here? 

“Hey, time to get up.” She stopped in front of him, nudging him with her paw. 

“We’re gonna see what you’re good for.” 

Dabi made sure to take his sweet time stretching when he stood up, enjoying the slightly annoyed look on the she-cats face. She didn’t bother elaborating, instead just flicking her tail at him before walking off, Dabi followed behind her. 

They traveled for a bit until they reached an area that was less crowded by the human population, there were even some trees still alive over here.

“We don’t get much fresh kill, but there are usually some mice around here. Keep your eyes open and your nose sharp.” 

Hunting. Dabi had never hunted a single day in his entire life. He’d never had a reason too, so he didn’t know jack shit about it. How does one admit that as a stray cat without seeming like the most pathetic animal ever? He’d just gotten here and he was already hated, he didn’t need to give them anymore reason to look down on him. 

So he kept his mouth shut and let the other cat lead the way. Praying desperately that they would not actually come across any mice. Of course luck was never on his side, he was cursed the very day he was born. 

The cat suddenly stopped, her tail high in the air before she flicked it left twice. He listened to the clear signal and stalked left, he had no idea what she saw or where it was. He tried sniffing but he didn’t even know what a mouse smelled like. 

She pounced with no warning and he heard a high pitched squeak suddenly cut off. He didn’t know why she had him go left until the second mouse came scrabbling right towards him out of fear. Dabi startled as it ran through his paws and scrambled back, instinctively trying to not step on it. 

He only realized his mistake when it had disappeared. 

Shit. 

Dabi turned reluctantly towards the Siamese to see the angered look on her face. Her pure disbelief almost radiated from her. Double shit. She stalked over to him and dropped her mouse on the ground. 

“What was that?!” She hissed, “even a kit could’ve caught that mouse, it practically ran into your claws!” 

“I’ve never hunted before, I’m a scavenger.” It was the lamest and only excuse he could think of at the moment. 

A sudden and sharp pain burst from the back of his head as she swatted him, the trickling of something wet on his fur let him know she had kept her claws out while doing so. 

“Useless toms,” she muttered sourly, “you’re not allowed to come back empty.” 

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch you prissy bitch, we’ll find something else.” 

He rubbed the back of his head lightly before looking back up to see the most befuddled expression on her face.

“I didn’t even understand half of what you just said.” 

He hadn’t even thought about the fact that cats wouldn’t use all the same words people did. How did this cat language even work? 

“We’ll find something else.” He stated plainly, maybe a little condescending but he would deny it. 

She swatted at him again but he saw it coming and swiped her paw away with his own before she could hit him. She blinked in surprise at that before smirking a bit. What a weird cat. 

“Whatever, let’s move on.” Her voice was crisp and left no room for argument. 

If she was deciding to move on from the whole embarrassing incident well he would be a fool to deny it. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as some failure again, even if it was just failing at being a cat. Something he was not. 

He could only hope she wouldn’t go talkin shit behind his back. 

They didn’t end up with much in Dabi’s opinion, one mouse and a half eaten burger someone had forgotten, but he’d survived off less. Maybe he was getting a bit spoiled with the leagues money because the other cat- did she have a name?- seemed content with it. 

No words were spoken as they walked back, not like any could be with both their mouths full. He felt like he’d both made a good and bad first impression with her. At the end of the day though it didn’t really matter, the only cat he needed to get in good with was Scourge. 

Being on good terms with the man in charge would keep him much safer while he tried to figure out his situation. The smaller cat also intrigued him, just a bit. He couldn’t help but be curious as to how all this came to be. 

The sun was setting by the time they got back, they both deposited the food they were carrying into the pile. 

“Good work, Spiderbell.” Scourge called down, looking at the she-cat beside him. Ah, so that was her name. Scourge side-eyed him before nodding in acknowledgment. Better than nothing he supposed. 

Spiderbell. Interesting name.

“You can take something, you know.” Spiderbell nodded at the pile. 

“Hm, later, I’m not hungry.” He was hungry, but Dabi didn’t feel like eating. He could tell she didn’t believe him but didn’t care enough to mention it, she walked away from the pile, not taking anything either. 

His only wish was to go back to his flattened box and curl up, but of course he couldn’t have nice things could he? 

“Aw look, dog food is back!” It was that dog collared brown and white cat again. His slimmer companion stood slightly behind him. Were these two just always together? 

“Surprising.” The black cat chimed in. 

“We don’t like weak cats around here,” the brown cat snarled as he stalked closer, “your kind don’t seem to last long.” 

He was gathering the attention of the surrounding cats with his open mockery. Dabi glanced to see Scourge's icy eyes on him. He couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He turned back to the taunting cat, now only a few steps away from him. 

“If you know what’s-“ he didn’t get the chance to finish as Dabi launched himself at him. He’d never fought as a cat before, but it wasnt bragging whenever he told others he was great at adapting. He’d spent his entire life doing it, learning to copy others in an instant. He could figure this out. 

Dabi slammed into the other cat, knocking him over briefly, the cat jumped up to his paws, quickly recovering from the fall and jumped to tackle Dabi in return. 

Dabi reacted in an instant, thrusting his body up at the airborne cat and smashing his head into the other's throat. He was knocked back again, and cats scrambled to get out of their way. The brown cat moved as if to jump at Dabi again and Dabi quickly braced himself to meet him in the air once more, only for the brown cat to dart low and latch onto the junction between his throat and shoulder. 

He yowled in surprise and snagged his claws in the cats fur, trying to push him off. The other didn’t budge, instead pushing against Dabi and throwing him onto his back. Dabi thrashed under him in response before biting him back and shaking his head back and forth violently like a dog. 

Skin ripped under his teeth and he felt blood fill his mouth, but the other still didn’t let go. As a last ditch move he wiggled his back paws between himself and the brown cat and thrust up violently, tearing into the cats stomach as he flung him off. He took a chunk of Dabi’s skin with him. 

Wasting no time Dabi immediately copied what the fluffier cat had done, latching onto his neck and not letting go. If he bit full force, it would be a killing bite. The cat beneath him stopped moving.  

They were both breathing heavily, and after a few seconds of zero movement from the other cat Dabi let go. 

“My name is Skyfire, and if you mock me again, you won’t live to see another day.” He hissed into the cat's ear before raising his head to address the other cats. 

“Do not mock me.” He snarled, staring down anyone willing to meet his gaze. The brown cat wiggled out from underneath him and slowly padded back to his corner of the alley to lick his wounds, Dabi soon did the same.

Since he had yet to be killed or kicked out of the alley, he figured what he had done was fine. It was a risky move attacking that cat like that, but he refused to be disrespected. He wasn’t weak. He had never been weak. 

Dabi licked the blood off his fur slowly, trying not to acknowledge the fact that he’d basically just named himself lightning, before looking up to where Scourge sat above him. 

The cat was looking right at him, and their eyes locked. Neither looked away as Dabi raised his paw up to his mouth and licked the remaining blood off. 

Scourge's expression hadn’t changed at all, but his blue eyes glimmered with something. One could call it excitement. 

Dabi had caught his attention. 

Good. 

Chapter Text

Scourge hadn’t said anything to Dabi since the incident, nor had anyone else, and he was content with it being that way. Being friendly wasn’t his strong suit, scaring people- cats- off was. He saw how the glances they threw his way had changed though. 

No longer disgust or annoyance, now it was curiosity and a slight bit of respect even. Though he hadn’t earned much yet. The cats here lived up to the name bloodclan, blood seemed to be the only way to earn anything here. It was the currency they used. 

The more you were feared, the more you had. And right now Dabi was still on the bottom rung. He wasn’t going to lay around waiting for directions like he had yesterday, it was clear to him that food was often a big priority here. 

It made sense, most of the cats looked half starved at best. 

So Dabi reluctantly peeled himself up off the ground and slowly made his way out of the alley, pretending his scars weren’t still aching from yesterday. He didn’t know the good spots for food in this area considering he never spent much time as a human around here. 

Luckily Dabi prided himself in being a fast learner. He left the alley with his head high, pretending he knew where he was going and praying no cat caught his bluff. 

Soon as he was out of sight he let himself wince in pain from the dull throbbing in his face and limbs. He let out a sigh but continued on. Avoiding people was surprisingly the easy part, as long as he stuck close to the walls no one batted an eye at him. The hard part was making sure he didn’t get lost. 

Looking for landmarks to help him find his way back. Dabi had to admit, dumpster diving sounded like an absolute nightmare, and hunting didn’t seem any better considering he sucked ass at it. 

An idea suddenly struck him causing him to stop in his tracks, as if a lightbulb above his head had flicked on. He didn’t know the area well, but he didn’t need to to find good food, all he had to do was locate one of those cheap convenience stores or something, the ones with the sliding doors. They were everywhere. 

Or maybe that’s what it seemed when he was bigger with longer legs because he was struggling to find one. The rough pavement was starting to scuff up his paw pads, leaving them sore. He just needed to find one store with sliding glass doors, just one. 

No matter how much he sniffed he could never seem to untangle all the smells from each other. He had to scramble to avoid getting stepped on a few times, oblivious fuckers. 

That was when he finally saw it, right in front of him In all it’s glory, a store with sliding doors. And that’s how Dabi found out he could no longer read, which was… not a good skill to lose. He shrugged it off though, he would take the gift right in front of him.

He’d stolen food many times as a human, he would be a lot faster and harder to catch as a cat. 

A sigh of relief escaped him as the doors opened when he approached and he let himself in, head and tail held high like he owned the place. 

The cold air of the store hit him almost immediately, he hadn’t even realized how warm it was outside until he had escaped it. It felt like heaven and Dabi had to resist flopping onto his side and soaking it up. The cold floor soothed his aching pads as he walked, looking down the different aisles.

He noticed almost immediately that the store was surprisingly empty, he definitely would’ve been getting more weird stares if it was busier, the ideal conditions for a robbery. Luck was on his side for once it seemed. 

Dabi didn’t exactly know what he was looking for, waiting to spot something that got his hungry cat brain excited. And finally, there it was, at the end of one of the aisles started another one. A row of fridges that practically radiated golden light, showing off the stacks of raw packaged meat inside them. 

If Dabi had less control he’d be drooling like a dog. Never had he expected to get so excited over raw meat before. He bounded over, sliding to a stop in front of it and peering up.

He had to stand up on his hind legs to reach the handle, he wrapped his paws through it and hooked his claws into the little cracks on the bottom of the fridge, using his hold to plant his hind paws firmly and push off with a strong kick, the door swung open surprisingly easily, dragging the bottom half of his body across the floor. Maybe he’d pushed too hard, the door jostled when it hit its limit, causing Dabi to ungracefully flop onto the floor. 

Claws slid across the tile as he scrambled to move in front of the door before it fully closed, standing on his hind legs with his back pushed against the door, he really had no weight to him in this form. The fridge door slid him forwards a little more before finally stopping. 

Talk about undignified, he must’ve looked so pathetic at that moment. But his prize would be worth it. He wasted no more time waiting and immediately climbed into the fridge, his arms were stronger than they looked as a cat, able to hold his body weight well. The cold prickled at his fur, he wished it could always be this cold. 

The third shelf was where he finally found a piece that suited his not very high standards. 

It was raw something, looked like steak or beef of some kind. And he could already tell carrying it was going to be a pain, but since when did he let that ever stop him. He sunk his claws into the plastic best he could and pulled, trying to wiggle the thing out of the fridge. 

It didn’t work. He tilted his head, trying to think of a better idea. Maybe brute force was the way to go with this one. 

Dabi would not be defeated by a dead cow of all things, he sunk his teeth into the plastic and yanked his entire body backwards, causing both him and subsequently the meat to tumble backwards out onto the floor.

A hiss of pain escaped him, but it didn’t hurt as much as he had thought it would. Now he just had to drag it all the way back. He sunk his teeth into one of the frozen corners best he could and started dragging. 

His ears snapped up when he caught the sound of a badly concealed snicker. He looked up to see what looked like a college kid, his phone out and camera pointed directly at Dabi. He felt his entire brain bluescreen for a moment. What. 

How long had that kid been there? How much had he seen?? Did he know who he was recording right now? 

Of course he didn’t. That was a dumb question. But the guy seemed to hold no interest in stopping Dabi, just wanting to record the probably ridiculous scene. Which suited Dabi fine when he really thought about it, it’s not like anyone actually knew who he was. He was just another hungry stray. 

He let out a warning growl just in case before going back to dragging, the meat was frozen and difficult to move but eventually he was able to move back to normal ish walking, the meat hanging from his locked jaw and dragging under his paws. It was about the same size he was.

The new position gave him enough speed to skedaddle before the cashier currently gawking at him snapped out of it and chased him, if they even paid her enough to do that. 

Now that he was out he just had to make the long trek back, just the thought of all that walking filled him with dread, but he couldn’t hesitate and risk getting caught. The sun was starting to dip in the sky by the time he was halfway back, time had seemed to be flying by for him lately. 

Dabi was panting in exhaustion when his eyes finally caught the opening of the correct alleyway.  His paws and tail basically dragged on the ground as he trudged forward, the meat had started to thaw too, juices dripping into his mouth and down his jaw from where his teeth pierced the plastic. 

Meat usually took longer to thaw, but then again meat was usually kept in freezers to Dabi’s knowledge, but he wasn’t really one for buying raw meats of any kind. 

He readjusted his grip on the meat, biting deeper now that it was softer, and started pulling as he backed up towards the alley. He was so glad this area was dead even on the busiest of days, he felt like a clumsy toddler. 

“Heyy, look who’s back,” a voice he didn’t recognize called out, “almost thought you weren’t going to show back up.” 

Dabi let the meat drop and turned to see a big black and white cat approaching him, she wasn’t Scourge's guard, but she looked a lot like him. 

“Yeah, you were gone for a while, whatcha got there?” This time the voice was familiar, it was that cat he’d fought. He had to fight rolling his eyes, even that seemed like a chore right then. 

“I brought back dinner.” He stated plainly before turning back to his task. He didn’t bother asking for help, instead working in silence to pull it the rest of the way. 

He heard the mummers break out around them. None of them sounded hostile thankfully. 

“Howww did you get that?” Brown cat asked, looking stunned. 

Finally he dropped it and sat down, sighing in relief. He didn’t bother answering at first, trying to catch his breath, the other cats in the alley were looking too, some approaching to sniff the food. Clearly they liked what they saw. Dabi was winning today. 

“Where did you get this?” An icy voice piped up from next to him, Dabi immediately straightened up, he hadn’t heard Scourge's approach. He glanced down to see the smaller cat almost shoulder to shoulder with him. 

“I stole it.” Confidence was key.

“From the two-legs?” He asked, nudging the torn plastic with a sharp claw. 

“I wasn’t seen if that’s what you’re worried about,” lie, but he wasn’t followed so it didn’t matter, “walked miles at least, no person will find out.” 

Scourge hummed in contemplation before calling out to all the cats in the alley, “you all can eat tonight, seems we have enough to go around for once, wouldn’t want any of it going bad.” 

The other cats immediately started to crowd, pulling the plastic away to chew at the half melted meat. Like a bunch of hungry fish nibbling at bread. He glanced over at the Scourge’s guard cat, observing as he pulled off a huge chunk and took it to the top of the dumpster. 

Dabi felt himself stiffen a little at the feeling of someone brushing against his shoulder. 

“You talk funny, you know that?” Scourge asked, though it didn’t feel like a question Dabi was supposed to answer. 

It didn’t matter anyway, Scourge left before he could even process what happened, joining the bigger cat up on the dumpster again. Dabi tried to shake off the interaction, instead deciding to reward himself for his hard work. 

“Hey, no hard feelings right?” It was that stupid cat now, why was he suddenly so buddy buddy? Please, just let him eat in peace.

“The name's Gwen, that’s Iris.” Gwen said with a toothy smile, flicking his tail at his companion, “I feel like we got off on the wrong paw.” 

Dabi lifted his head up and stared blankly at the cat while chewing. 

“You called me Scarface and tried to mock me in front of everyone.” Dabi said after he swallowed. 

“I did do that, yes,” he nodded, not bothering to look even slightly sorry about it, “but hey, you earned your right to be here, so we cool?” 

Dabi scoffed, “Whatever.”

He watched Gwen turn to flash his buddy a surprisingly bright smile, as if Iris was his wingman in a romcom. Absentmindedly Dabi wondered if Gwen knew his name was Inherently female. He decided not to bring it up. Instead grabbing a chunk of food and bringing it to his cardboard.

The meat didn’t last long, but it was never meant to. It would’ve gone bad fast had they left it out for very long. 

Content to sit in his little space and chew slowly on his food, Dabi let himself get lost in thought and try not to think about the chronic pain nightmare he would be facing tomorrow. He wondered what the kid had done with that video.

_____________________

Stray Cat steals ENTIRE STEAK from store!! (Not Clickbait) 

Chapter Text

When Gwen had made the report of a strange looking cat hanging out in bloodclan territory, Scourge had thought it was a waste of time. But it piqued his interest when Gwen then mentioned this cat escaping him by “leaping across buildings like some kind of squirrel.” 

It was an interesting description to be sure. A tall cat covered in short fur and scars. Scourge had never heard of such a cat in the area before, so he’d decided to check it out. This cat turned out surprisingly easy to track, once Gwen had shown him where he had landed after jumping across the building Scourge was able to catch a faint scent. 

Ash.

He sent Gwen back to camp before tracking the cat down. He hadn’t decided on whether he wanted to try to recruit the cat or chase him away when he found him. With the amount of noise he was making it was a surprise no one else had investigated, but whether this cat was lucky or not that Scourge had been the first to find him had yet to be seen. 

It wasn’t a good first impression to say the least, the cat was covered in deep scarring that was clearly causing him a lot of pain, with how he was writhing on the ground. It was truly pathetic, he’d been tempted to put this cat out of his misery right then and there. He would’ve honestly considered it a mercy. 

But then the cat had reacted to his presence in an utterly unexpected way. He had reacted with fight, strength, a determination to survive that Scourge rarely saw anymore. This cat, despite his shaking limbs and pained breath, blazed with life. He saw fire in his eyes, and it stunned him for a second. 

So he decided, if the cat was able and willing to follow him back despite his pain without the need of help, he could stay. And to Scourges delight, the cat did. He’d never bothered asking for the cats name, a name was earned. And earn it he did, Scourge was becoming increasingly more content with his decision to keep this cat alive. 

It wasn’t just “cat” anymore though, he’d earned his name. Skyfire. Days in and Skyfire had already beat a cat and brought back more food than Scourge had ever seen a single cat bring. Overachiever was an understatement. He saw how Skyfire straightened under his gaze, how he practically glowed when Scourge put his attention on him. His strange way of speaking and sometimes unrecognizable language were off putting at first, but Scourge figured with enough time he could get used to it. 

Though Skyfires overachieving seemed to have already caught up to him. It was past sunhigh and he was still in his corner. No matter how much the bigger cat tried to hide it, Scourge could see his trembling. Those scars took a big toll on his body, and in his effort to climb the tree of power he had failed to look after his health. 

“You’re sure he’ll last?” Bone asked from beside him, an understandable concern.

“Those scars are old, if he's managed to last this long, I think he still has some strength that we can use.” He drawled, observing the cats below him, “he values his place here already, taking care of a sick cat is worth a strong soldier, don’t you think?” 

“You know I’m not one to doubt you.” 

“Good, have Snake fetch him some water, I’ll talk to him about his.. condition later tonight.”

“Thought you had Spiderbell lookin after him.” Bone mentioned as he stretched, and got ready to jump down.

“I did, but this isn’t a task for her, you know how she feels about looking after toms.” He sighed. Snake also wouldn’t be happy about looking after an injured cat, especially one so new. But he knew she wouldn’t be insulted by it. 

There were a lot of cats he could ask to do this very simple task, all of them would scramble to get in his good graces, but he never let untrustworthy cats handle the ill in his clan. And he didn’t trust many. 

Bone didn’t respond to that, instead jumping down to do his duty. That left Scourge alone in his thoughts. He would approach Skyfire as the sun set, he’d decided. Scourge had always been a night cat. Many of his own cats thought him inactive, he was aware of it, because to them he napped and lazed the day away. High and mighty on his throne, looking down on the mangy rats. 

But Scourge was anything but, he saved his energy for the nighttime. When the air was crisp, and the black of his fur blended with the shadows. He knew he could not let himself go, he had to stay strong. In order to do so he had to take care of himself. Nights were his time to come to life. 

He hunted for himself. He ran, jumped, and climbed any obstacles he could find. He kept them safe at night. He kept himself, the clan, strong. 

Daytime was when he rested and observed, he knew he had Bone to protect him if any cat tried something. Figuring out places safe and unsafe to patrol, keeping an eye on how much food they had, taking reports on possible concerns, and helping out cats who came to him with personal problems were all tasks assigned to him during the day. 

Assigned to him, by himself. 

So he observed as Snake returned with moss soaked with water, fresh and clean. She had walked a while to find a clean water source, they were not common around the area. 

And once again Skyfire surprised him, hissing slightly at Snake when she offered him the water. He couldn’t quite hear what was said, but it seemed he wasn’t one very willing to accept help. Scourge watched as Snake growled back at him and dropped the water in front of him before stalking off. 

If Skyfire wanted to die, Scourge would let him. But the scarred cat clearly had some intelligence left in that mousebrain of his, because eventually he did drink the water. Scourge pretended he didn’t feel a little relieved at the sight of him accepting the help.

Ungratefulness was not a good trait to have if you were ill. 

Bone eventually returned to Scourge and lay next to him. They never spoke much, their relationship wasn’t one built on chatting. Instead, one of mutual respect and trust. Scourge didn’t mention anything when Bone started grooming him, instead just laying content. 

He let his eyes slide almost entirely shut as he let himself relax, slightly leaning against Bone as a small show of affection. 

The sun was halfway set when Scourge finally pulled himself up to his paws, Skyfire hadn’t moved an inch, still curled in his little area. He’d seen Gwen approach the cat earlier with a food offering but get rejected. He was awfully stubborn. 

Scourge gracefully hopped down onto the ground, ignoring how the cats immediately raised their guard and scattered out of his way as he did so. The mistrust went both ways. He approached Skyfire with a silent confidence, and took no care for his injuries when nudging him with a paw. 

The scarred cat reacted with a sharp hiss and a glare, only to immediately cut it out when he saw who it was that was bothering him. Scourge had to be honest, it was ego boosting to have such a cat respect him as much as this one did. 

“We need to talk.” He stated simply, before getting up and padding out of the alley slowly. Skyfire followed him with no complaints despite the pain he was still clearly in. 

They walked for a bit, he knew how nosy his cats could be, and while they weren’t discussing anything too serious he preferred to keep his conversations more private.

“What is this about.” Skyfire asked, no, more like demanded, after they had stopped, now sitting in a grassy area. The disrespect, and yet Scourge didn’t feel like punishing him for it. 

“You’re proving yourself a worthy cat,” he watched as the cat preened under the praise, barely noticeable, but Scourge was nothing if not observant, “but you’re pushing yourself too hard.” 

The switch up was instantaneous, something about the last part of his sentence had set something off in the ill cat. He didn’t say anything, but he could see it in the others' body language. 

“I’m more than capable of-“

“Your behavior today says otherwise.” Scourge cut him off. 

“Don’t think you know what I can and can’t handle.” His raspy voice bordered on a snarl, he was pushing his luck. Scourge could see the thin ice crack more and more beneath Skyfires paws the more disrespectfully he acted. Too much fire was a dangerous thing.

“You’d do good to watch what you say to me.” He narrowed his eyes, a warning. “We can’t have you dying because you don’t know how to take a break and accept help. Knowing your limits is good, you should figure out yours.” 

“I know my limits.” Skyfire growled. 

“You may know them, but you don’t listen to them.” If push came to shove, Scourge knew he could take him down in a fight. “Don’t pull a food stunt like that again.” 

“Thought food was what you needed, half the cats here are half starved.” 

“We do, but not dire enough for you to do that again. It’s clear your body can’t handle it, and we can’t draw two-leg attention to ourselves. We’ll keep it as a resort if times get tough enough to justify. Until then, leave it.” 

As tempting as that amount of fresh food was, stealing from two-legs was never a good idea. Scourge had seen cats and even dogs hunted down and stolen. He never saw any of the taken ever again. He couldn’t risk any cat by drawing that much attention to themselves. 

Skyfire finally nodded, letting out a dramatic sigh. Scourge would take it. 

“My scars don’t make me weak.” He spoke with conviction after a long pause. 

“I know.” 

“I can do more than just gather.” 

“You’ll do what I say we need you to do.” 

Skyfire grumbled words Scourge didn’t recognize under his breath and Scourge's ear flicked in annoyance. 

“Go back to camp, I’ll have something new for you in a few days.”

He watched the taller cat's ears prick up in interest. He didn’t ask what task he would be doing, or what Scourge had planned, instead he turned and did what he was told without further complaint. Scourge pretended he didn’t see him stumble a little as he left. 

Fire and stubborn, but compliant at the end of the day. What an interesting cat. 

This cat had only been around a few days and had already gotten away with multiple things Scourge had never let slide before, and he couldn’t think of a real reason why he hadn’t punished the arrogant cat for his behavior yet. 

There was no real excuse for it, Scourge believed he was intrigued. Not many cats had the guts to talk to him that way, and any of the ones who did were enemies that didn’t tend to last long. 

He couldn’t help but wonder, if they fought, who would be the first to fall? 

Chapter Text

A new task, Scourge had told him. 3 days had passed and still nothing new. Dabi knew the cat had said in a “few days” but he couldn’t help being impatient, there had to be something better he could be doing other than scavenging for food. 

Since day one of his life Dabi had been climbing the ladder of power and yet every time he was close to the top he was flung off the rungs and onto a different ladder to climb. He was getting sick of it. 

So yes, Dabi was getting impatient. 

He didn’t bother interacting with any of the others, though occasionally Spiderbell joined him for his scavenging trips and Gwen pestered him with conversation. He never interacted with Iris, or any of the other cats really. The black and white cat that had given him water hadn’t approached him again, and Dabi would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little guilty. 

She had only been trying to help, and his pain and self hate had him lashing out. What an asshole. He curled up on himself more, Dabi was starting to understand more of the rules, no thanks to any of the cats around him. 

It was fine if he went the day doing nothing, but it meant he couldn’t eat. If he wanted food he’d have to come back with some himself, and he was only allowed to eat once a day if it was something from the pile he was getting. Spiderbell eventually told him if he got too hungry he could eat some of the stuff he found while scavenging, as long as he didn’t come back with nothing. 

Another thing Dabi noticed was that there were some cats that were allowed to eat twice. He’d noticed a striped cat with deep orange colored fur and a green collar taking two with no one saying anything to her about it. She’d hissed at him when she caught him staring and he looked away. 

There was some sort of hierarchy here, it wasn’t just Scourge at the top and the rest of them at the bottom. Dabi wished there was a gang cats 101 manual he could read to make it all easier. 

A low annoyed growl escaped him when he heard footsteps approaching him and glanced over to see Gwen now standing in front of him, Iris right behind him. 

“Guess who’s here to bother you!” The brown cat announced in an upbeat tone, as if he wasn’t currently the most annoying cat in existence. 

“We’re going out on patrol, Scourge is sending you with us.” Iris didn’t sound too happy about it. 

“Don’t say it like that, ya make it sound like we don’t want him with us.” 

Iris side-eyed him in a way that told Dabi he certainly didn’t want him with them. Dabi just let out a long sigh before standing up. 

“Guess it beats looking for food.” He tried to stop his tail from flicking in annoyance. 

“Great attitude, now let’s be off.” Gwen said with a toothy grin, there was something seriously wrong with this cat. 

Dabi didn’t complain though, Scourge delivered and now it was time for Dabi to prove that he could handle it. He couldn’t help but feel like being paired with Gwen was a punishment of some sort though. And Iris probably thought being paired with Dabi was a punishment with the distaste clear on his face every time their eyes met. 

“You wanna explain how this goes?” Dabi prompted after a bit of walking. 

“What?” Gwen startled, probably surprised Dabi had spoken to him first, “oh yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know.” 

“On patrols we typically keep an eye out for rogues, thieves, and unusual two-leg behavior. At the end of the patrol we report back to Scourge if there’s anything worth reporting.” Iris spoke, his voice smooth, “He decides what we do from there.” 

Huh… That was the clearest explanation Dabi had gotten for literally anything. He was starting to think maybe Iris wasn’t so bad, if only the dark cat would stop staring at him like his entire existence was an inconvenience. 

“Basically we get to explore and relax, and if we get lucky I get to fight.” 

Dabi tilted his head, he hadn’t missed the change in pronoun. “Only you?” 

“Iris isn’t much of a fighter.” Gwen snickered, not even flinching when Iris swiped at his already tattered ear. 

“I can fight if needed,” Iris stated, moving his glare from Gwen to Dabi, “but Gwen is more built for it I can’t deny.”

“You’re a surprisingly good fighter yourself,” Gwen said to Dabi as he sped up a little to keep pace with Dabis' longer legs, “but let’s be clear you only won because I was caught off guard.” 

Dabi just grunted in response, not bothering to really respond to that. If Gwen wanted a rematch he wasn’t gonna get one, though Dabi could probably light himself on fire and easily win by burning everyone around him. 

He wouldn’t though. Not yet at least. 

Dabi let himself tune out Iris and Gwen as they chatted about something unimportant to him, instead focusing on observing his surroundings. The place they were in was crowded, filled people walking too and from places, the buildings were packed together tightly leaving the area with a more claustrophobic feel to it. 

A light breeze caressed his face and in that moment Dabi allowed himself to just.. exist. He took in a deep breath and for once let himself stop thinking, and instead focus on the things around him. 

The weather was a gentle warm, it smelled like people and smog but with a hint of, was that flowers? Probably a flower shop near by. Broken glass and rough concrete were scratching up his paw pads a little, but he still felt like splaying out and just soaking up the sun. 

“Hey, you good?” Gwen nudged Dabi, snapping him back to the present conversation. 

“Do I look like I’m not?” He grumbled back. Moment ruined. 

“Not that, you just looked… I don’t know, not entirely miserable?” Gwen laughed, “which is strange for you.” 

“You barely know me.” Dabi raised an eyebrow, at least it felt like he did, maybe he just made a very weird face. 

“We can fix that.” Seriously how was this the same cat that made fun of him and tried to chase him down the day they met. The dots were not clicking in Dabi’s head. 

“You can do that later,” Iris chimed in, “right now we need to focus.” 

“Focus on what? Cuz all I see right now is a whole lotta nothin.” 

“There’s always something.” 

“So he always says.” Gwen muttered quietly while leaning closer to Dabi. 

Dabi agreed with Gwen, to him it looked like a lot of nothing. Just people doing people things while they tried to stay out of way. 

“Hey Iris, let's show him the place, that might make him less grumpy.” Gwen suddenly perked up. Iris rolled his eyes with a sigh but changed their path all the same. Dabi didn’t know what place they were talking about but it hopefully had more than the area they were currently in. 

He followed silently behind, content to not contemplate where they were going. Instead he just let his body run on autopilot until he got there. His brain needed a break after everything that has happened. 

It was because of his unawareness that he startled when his paws hit soft grass instead of concrete. They had walked into a much less crowded neighborhood area. 

“Where are we?” He asked as they approached a fence, behind the fence was a large field he’d never seen before, and even further was what looked to be a small cluster of trees. A forest maybe? Though he knew there were no real forests in the area. 

“That’s wildcat territory, we’re not allowed past the fence.” Gwen said as he gazed wistfully into the open grass, “but what I would give to run through that field for one day and catch a rabbit.” 

He sighed. 

“We come here sometimes when there’s not much happening” Iris meowed, “the ground is softer, and the air hurts less.” 

“What’s stopping you from going? Other than the.. wildcats.” Dabi gestured towards the field, if it was just a few other strays he didn’t see why they couldn’t take them on. 

“Scourge, he forbids us from crossing this fence, he knows the danger those cats pose more than any other cat.” 

“And I heard they have four times as many cats as we do.” Gwen chimed in with wide eyes, “Scourge says we won’t always be trapped in the city though, and I trust that enough to listen.” 

A sudden clang from further down the fence caused Dabi to jump, he looked in the direction of the noise to see a black and white cat staring at them from where it was now perched. Its eyes were as gold as Iris’s were. 

“Ah, don’t worry about her.” Gwen nudged him, “she’s one of the few Rogues we let hang around, she won’t bother us.” 

Dabi nodded in acknowledgment, watching silently as the she-cat jumped down onto the other side and made her way into the field they were forbidden from. 

“Come on, we should get back to actually patrolling.” Iris grumbled, turning away from the fence and back towards the city. Dabi sighed and reluctantly followed. He couldn’t help but throw one last glance towards the trees, he swore he felt someone watching him. But he saw nothing. 

____________________

The she-cat and the woods from earlier wouldn’t leave his mind. Two more unknowns thrown into the mix. Why were some strays allowed to stay and others not? And the woods, all that luxury just a fence jump away and yet as always it was unreachable. He didn’t understand why. Forest cats did sound like a threat, but even the biggest enemies had weakness. Scourge had to know that, the smaller cat must have some plan. 

“Something bothering you?” A voice piped up from beside him. Dabi glanced over to meet the bright orange eyes of a cat he had seen but never talked too. The ginger with the green collar, he’d seen her take seconds a few times. 

She never looked too friendly, none of the cats did, that hadn’t changed even as she sat next to him. He side-eyed her.

“You could say that,” he paused, if she had a higher standing than most of the other cats, maybe she would know more than them.

“The forest, I heard there were cats living out there.” 

“What about it?” Her eyes narrowed at him, a sensitive subject he guessed.

“All that food and territory for just a few wild cats seems like a waste does it not?” 

“More than a few,” she hissed, “those greedy dogs may be weak in the head, but they have the strength to keep us away.” 

Her face scrunched up in distaste. 

“Scourge isn’t planning on letting that stand forever, is he?” He prodded, maybe he should care less about this but it seemed, cat or human, life was unfair. The powerful hoarded and the unfortunate starved. 

“Only for the time being.” She turned to look at him, “You’re pulling your weight so far, maybe you aren’t mousefodder like I first suspected.”

Dabi straightened up a little when she stood and walked closer to him. She may have been shorter, but it felt like she loomed above him. She moved her head closer to his, her sharp teeth flashing in the corner of his vision. 

“But I suggest you start asking less questions.” She growled, before turning and stalking away, her tail flicking the side of his face as he did so. 

What an asshole. 

He forgot to ask about the other strays in the area, one’s not a part of the clan. Maybe he’d learn about it later.

His stomach growled and he looked over to the small pile of food, then back to the rest of the cats. He sighed and curled up, ignoring his hunger as he tried to think of a way to pass the time. 

Dabi should’ve asked for the orange cats name. 

Chapter Text

Dabi’s 6th patrol of the territory is where shit finally happened. Of course it was the second patrol he’d ever gone on alone, usually it was advised for cats to patrol in twos, however Dabi had never been one for company. Some things never changed. 

The feeling of being watched persisted, it wasn’t just him though. Others had felt it too, the silent observing from a distance. Scourge was well aware of it, he stressed the importance of not going out alone. Doing shit by himself got him in more trouble than not, and yet he still did it anyway. 

Turns out they really had been being watched, by a rival…clan? Group? Dabi didn’t know them, but they sure knew bloodclan. Of course they did. 

“You know, most cats are smart enough to travel in pairs. Seems we got a little mouse straying from the pack here.” A smooth voice called out from behind him, causing him to immediately spin around. 

A massive gray cat stood a distance away, an angry gleam in his eyes. Dabi didn’t know why his existence seemed to piss so many people off. 

“Most cats aren’t me.” Dabi snarled back, hackles starting to rise.

The cat wheezed a laugh, “oh trust me, I know. You look a step away from death's door.” 

“You’re in bloodclan territory,” he said as he tensed in preparation, god it made him cringe saying that, “I hope you know the consequences of trespassing.” 

“Oh trust me, I’m well aware of the consequences.” The cat tilted his head, before letting out a loud yowl. Dabi didn’t have any time to think about who he was yelling for before a weight hit him from the side, throwing him to the ground. An ambush. 

He swiped at his attacker and rolled back up to his paws when they moved back to dodge. Only to be slammed back to the ground by a different cat, the first cat grabbed him by the scruff and held him down when he tried to get back up again. Dabi thrashed, managing to reach back and rake his claws across the other cat's face. 

There was only a second of freedom before heavy paws hit his shoulder, holding him to the ground as the first cat recovered and held his head down. He struggled fruitlessly before finally reaching for his quirk.

His flames, that he hadn’t dared touch before now. 

Only instead of his power responding to him, he felt his body freeze, fear racing through him like poison. No flames came up, only memories. Memories of getting burned, of agony, and of the lightened scars and white hair he used to have. Like the lightened scars and white fur he had now. 

If he burned, he would die.

Luckily it seemed the cats took his freeze response as surrender, though they didn’t get off him. He looked up as the bigger gray cat approached, gazing down at him with a confusing amount of anger. 

“Scourge has bitten off more than he can chew, such a small cat shouldn’t have such big territory, don’t you agree?” He snarled, “Hoarding is an unforgivable sin.” 

“Scourge ain’t hoarding shit.” Dabi rasped back, glaring defiantly.

Why him of all cats? This wasn’t his god damn battle. Though now it was, because he’d be damned if he let this cat get away with ambushing him. The smell of flowers taunted him, what a pleasant place to be attacked at.

“Tell that to the starving cats left outside his land, he’s taken all the good food sources for himself, you had to have known it wouldn’t last.” Except Dabi didn’t know, because he wasn’t a stupid cat. 

“News flash, every cats starving you crazy bastard.” Paws only pushed him harder into the ground when he dared to shift a little. He could already tell he’d be fucked on sleep tonight. Curse not having drugs. 

“Some more than others.” The cat responded, “let Scourge know he won’t be the top cat forever. His foolish followers will grow sick of his abuse eventually, after all, there’s only so much one can handle.” 

Abuse? Dabi had yet to see any real abuse personally, though he wouldn’t be surprised. Scourge was a cruel cat at the end of the day, one who had helped him, but helping someone didn’t make you good. Dabi certainly wasn’t a part of bloodclan because of kindness, he was there because he served a purpose. 

“I’ll let you go scrambling back to your leader for today, don’t bite the messenger as they say. Though whoops-“ one of the cats holding him down snickered, “seems like we’ve already done so.” 

Finally the weight lifted off Dabi and he took a deep breath, trying not to wince in pain as he lifted his head up. Only to have it smashed into the concrete one last time by one of the grey cats paws as he leaned down and hissed into Dabi’s ear. 

“This is a mercy, anyone who follows that dog-“ he spat, “will get what’s coming.” 

His jaw ached as he was finally allowed to stand back up again, his eyes burned with hatred as he watched the three cats leave. His tail flicked behind him and he could feel how puffed up what little fur he had was. Dabi didn’t dare try to attack them, he knew a losing battle when he saw one. But he couldn’t stop the small bit of satisfaction from welling up when he saw the bleeding cuts on one of his attackers face. 

Dabi wouldn’t be the only one licking wounds tonight, better than nothing. 

Finishing patrol didn’t even cross his mind as he raced back to the now familiar alley, his thoughts ran faster than he did as he thought about what the hell had just happened. 

Ever since his trip to the fence there had been that feeling of eyes on him and the others, who were those cats? Clearly they had some beef with Scourge, though Dabi had no idea how this was supposed to work. He’d never been a gang member before, and even if he had it wouldn’t be helpful here. Cats weren’t people, even if they acted surprisingly similar. 

His legs were burning by the time he finally made it back, he wheezed for breath as he stumbled into the alley. It immediately drew the attention of every cat currently in the area, they stared at him with unguarded curiosity. 

“Scourge-“ he panted, wincing at how out of breath he sounded, “I need to talk to Scourge.” 

A headache was beginning to form, probably his heads way of protesting the harsh treatment. 

“What happened to you?” Gwen asked unseriously, approaching slightly. Dabi walked right past him up to where Scourge usually lay. 

The cat in question was already up and looking down at Dabi with those intense blue eyes, Dabi had his full attention. He shivered at the thought before remembering what he had it for. Right, messenger. 

“I was ambushed,” he heard Scarlet hiss in the background at the announcement, “by three cats.” 

Scourge's eyes narrowed. “Did you see who attacked you?” 

“Yes,” Dabi nodded, “the main guy had grey fur, bright green eyes. The two who attacked me were white, one with blue eyes, the other with green.” 

“Where was this located at?” 

“Near the flower shop, they told me to give you a message.” 

Scourge tilted his head and looked at him expectantly. Right.

“Said you were hoarding food sources, it was a threat against.. bloodclan.” 

There were hisses and mutters of anger behind him, a snicker almost escaped him when the “we’re all in this together” lyrics popped into his head. Now was not the time for that. 

Scourge appeared in thought at that, now looking at seemingly nothing in particular, it lasted only for a few seconds before he snapped out of it with a twitch of his ear. 

“You heard what was said, outside cats are threatening Bloodclan. I expect us all to remain vigilant, double the patrols. If you go out by yourself, what happens will be on you.” He sounded so commanding, like a real leader, not some backwater alley cat, “spread the word to Bloodclan cats not in this group, threats are not to be taken lightly. That is all.” 

With his dismissal the now anxious group of cats turned to each other to discuss whatever it was they were talking about, Dabi was too distracted to pay attention. What the hell had he gotten himself into, truly. 

“Skyfire, come here.” Scourge's voice called out. Dabi looked up at him in surprise, eyes widening even more when he gestured for him to jump up onto the old dumpster. He didn’t question it, instead bunching up his sore limbs and leaping up onto the platform. It made a dull thudding noise when he landed on it. 

The space was decently sized, maybe able to hold 8 cats total. It was padded with cloth towards the back, it looked cozy. Dabi couldn’t help the small bit of envy that swirled in his chest, he stamped it down quickly. 

“Hope I’m not in trouble.” Dabi chuckled a bit nervously.

“This grey cat, give me more details on him.” 

“Big cat, long fur. No noticeable scars, he had a lighter grey patch on his face. Very angry. Why?” 

“It’s not your place to question why.” Scourge snapped back quickly before pausing and letting out a sigh, “I need to know who to look out for, speaking of, you’re wounded.” 

He was? Scourge's eyes flicked up to his forehead at Dabi’s confused face and Dabi reached up to touch it with his paw, wincing in pain as he did so. His paw came back with mostly dried blood on it. Oh. 

“I’ve survived worse, I’m fine.” A small cut never hurt anyone. Emotion flicked across Scourge's face too fast to read, before he stood up with another sigh and gestured for Dabi to follow him. Dabi rolled his eyes, but followed anyway. He tried to ignore the other cats' stares as they passed by. 

“Wanna tell me where we’re going?” He piped up after a few minutes of aimless walking. 

“Not particularly.” Scourge responded. 

“This better not be a murder plot.” Dabi said, only half joking. He couldn’t think of a good reason for Scourge to kill him but who knows. 

“With your tendencies you’d be dead before I could even make a plan.” 

Was Scourge… bantering with him? Huh. The other cat had never seemed like the bantering type. 

“I’m difficult to kill.” 

Scourge side eyed him, “I’m sure.” 

“Seriously where the hell are we going.” This wasn’t a route he’d patrolled in before, the area they were in now looked like a small park, it had a bench and a little pond, not much else. Some trees. Good murder place. 

“A long time ago I lost something important in this pond, I was hoping maybe a new pair of eyes would be able to spot it.” 

“You.. brought me here to look in a pond.” What the hell. Scourge just stared at him, face betraying nothing. Dabi let out a reluctant grunt before walking up and peering down into the pond. All he saw was some stones, moss, and his own reflection looking back at him. 

The wound did look kind of bad, it must have opened one of the times he’d been body slammed onto the ground. Concrete would do that to you. 

“I don’t see shi- SHIT!” Dabi’s sentence was cut off by a force hitting him from behind and sending him flailing into the water below. He landed with a loud splash, completely soaking himself in water. 

He spluttered in shock as he scrambled and got his paws beneath him, now standing up in the water, it reached up to his belly. The water was cool, soothing Dabi's sore limbs. He looked furiously up at Scourge who now had a smug look on his face. 

“The hell was that for!” 

“I lied, clean yourself up, the last thing I need is you getting an infected wound because you’re a stubborn fool.” 

“And your solution was to drag me out here and half drown me?” Dabi hissed, though there was no real anger in it anymore. 

Scourge scoffed, “oh please, you’re fine.” 

“I don’t see why you even care.” Dabi grumbled as he sat back in the water and started gently rubbing at the wound with his wet paw. It stung, but was nowhere near the worst pain he’d experienced. He dipped his head in the water briefly to help wash the blood off before looking back up at Scourge after an extended silence. 

The other cat wasn’t watching him anymore, instead facing the other way, ears swiveling at every sound. Right, the threat. 

With Scourge's back turned Dabi let himself just stare. Despite the cat's smaller size he made up for it in muscle, it wasn’t something you could see from a distance, but up close Dabi could tell the man had strength hidden under that fur. 

Fur as black as the night, though it shimmered under the blazing sunlight. Despite its dark color, it looked warm, and soft. Contrasted by his ice cold eyes… that were currently staring right back at him. 

“My wound is clean.” Dabi said, like an idiot, as if he hadn’t just been caught staring for a weird amount of time. 

“I see that.” The other responded surprisingly awkwardly as he looked away. “We’re heading back.” 

Scourge didn’t even wait for Dabi to leave the water before standing up and walking away, Dabi quickly leapt out of the water to follow. He grimaced at the feeling of his wet fur clinging to him and paused after he caught up to the smaller cat to shake off some of the water. 

“Hey! Watch where you’re shaking.” Scourge yowled from next to him. 

“Revenge.” Dabi smirked, before bounding ahead of Scourge to race back to the alley. He didn’t look behind him to see if Scourge was following, his scars and entire body were going to hate him tomorrow. 

Running would probably help him dry off faster though, if that was how that worked. He was panting again when he reached the alley, though he slowed down to catch his breath before he entered. No use in giving everyone another scare. 

Dabi looked around but didn’t see Scourge behind him, no surprise there. He turned and walked back into the shaded alley only to be dumbfounded by the small black cat standing right next to Dabi's choice of sleeping arrangements. 

“How the fuck-“ 

“Shortcut.” Scourge gave him an amused look, before trotting back to the dumpster and leaping up to sit next to Bone. 

“Cheater.” Dabi mumbled under his breath as he lay on his cardboard and prepared himself for a painful day tomorrow. His head still ached, so sleep would be difficult. Though when was it not.

A more pressing thought entered his mind, his flames hadn’t responded to him. When he’d needed his power, he’d just frozen. Pathetic. Dabi was a lot more vulnerable without his fire, even if they caused him harm as well, any attacker would burn faster than he would. 

A frustrated groan escaped him as he decided to just focus on taking a nap for the time being. 

He once again ignored the curious and judgy looks sent his way. Bloodclan was nosy, and Dabi was starting to feel like he was getting special treatment of some kind despite not doing much to earn it. He’d have to stay on guard.

Nothing good came for free. 

Chapter Text

If God was real he was holding one hell of a grudge against Dabi. Was it all the attempted murders? Or all the successful murders. It was hard to think when it felt like his body was attempting to avenge the dead by killing him. He had been napping on his little cardboard square all day again, stuck, just him and his thoughts.

Gwen had only tried to bother him once and surprisingly let him be after one pained hiss. Maybe he was starting to get the message.

His mind wouldn’t stop swirling over the grey cat that had threatened him, not only that but Scourge’s slight friendly behavior with him. The smaller cat couldn’t actually care about Dabi, could he? They still hardly knew each other. He let out an annoyed huff, tail flicking slightly.

A rumble from his stomach interrupted his thoughts, he glanced at the food pile. It was so far from him, he felt he’d die if he attempted to even stand let alone walk the few steps needed to reach it.

So instead he just lay his head back down and stared helplessly at it as the cats around him went about their usual business.

“I swear, you’re sick more days than you're not.” Spiderbell's voice cut through his misery.

“M’ not sick.” He grumbled.

“Sure, and I’m a mouse.” She stared down at him, tail curled over her shoulder.

“Whaddya want.” Dabi let his gaze focus on a far wall, his goal was to appear as uninterested as possible, but in reality he was dying of boredom and hanging onto every word. No one really interacted with him here. Well, no one but Gwen. Gwen, however, was a two-faced bitch. So Dabi didn’t really want to interact with him.

“Seems your little ambushers are tryna send another message,” His head shot up and he winced at the flare of pain that flowed through his face and neck, “oh relax, no one was attacked. Just a shredded up scented mouse corpse.”

“You could’ve started with that.” He shot her a glare before laying his head back down, trying to ignore the pain.

“Thought you would want an update.”

“Since when do you care about what I want?”

Her ears flicked back slightly, “It's called being a good clanmate.”

Dabi let out a scoff and she turned to smack him in the face with her tail.

“You’re lucky Scourge lets you stick around.” She said as she stalked off.

“Good clanmate.” Yeah, right. Like Spiderbell had ever cared about being a good clanmate. Yet he couldn’t think of any ulterior motives she could have to even bother talking to him. He watched warily as she sat by Scourge's dumpster and began discussing something with a very malnourished looking white cat. Probably informing him of the new message or something. He let his eyes drift towards the food again.

The sun was starting to set, another entire day of doing nothing, how pathetic. He’d told Scourge he could handle it, that he knew his limits, but he was starting to wonder if he’d lied. Dabi knew his limits as a human, as a druggie upped on whatever he could get his hands on to numb the flare ups. He didn’t have that anymore, and who knew how long this one would last. Maybe it was time to re-learn his limits, starting with his quirk.

He’d tried to avoid thinking about it, but his reaction when faced with the cats who attacked him was unacceptably pitiful. It reminded him of when he’d first started living on the streets as a kid, afraid of his own flame and stuck in an unfamiliar body. It was uncomfortable how similar it felt, how helpless he’d felt both then and now.

Training was probably the answer, as it had been time and time again. Dabi was so tired though, tired of constantly losing his hard earned progress over and over. He flexed his paw, watching as razor sharp claws slid out. The setting sun glinted off them.

Dabi had yet to see any cats do battle training, but they couldn’t have just been born with the ability to fight. He’d ask sometime later, he figured. For now he was content to just let his body rest.

He rolled onto his back, turquoise eyes gazing up at the darkening sky. Stars were starting to show themselves, little specks of light twinkling. If he pushed the pain aside, if he ignored everything happening around him, all of who and where he was- it was peaceful.

Ears pressed to the side of his skull as he continued to gaze up. For a minute he let everything around him fade, the noise drowned out by the static in his mind, and he reached a paw up towards the ski. Almost as if to touch the stars. He wondered what it would be like, to not be something so insignificant for once.

Dabi brought his paw back down and rested it on his chest, closing his eyes and letting himself imagine that he wasn’t stuck half-starved in a dirtied alley, but instead was in the vast void of space. He’d heard it was cold, he wondered if his ice resistance would help him if he got high enough. He wondered if his ice resistance would work in space. It sounded nice, floating in a cold black nothingness, not having to worry about the world below. Like a god.

A sigh escaped him and he opened his eyes to see the now completely dark sky, all traces of the sun gone. He might’ve drifted off for a second. What a silly train of thought.

Despite feeling tired he found himself unable to actually sleep, most likely because he had slept most the day away. His gaze landed on the food again, his stomach growled. The cats still in the alley had all fallen asleep most likely a while ago, nothing was stopping him from standing to get something to eat.

Nothing but his own laziness, that is.

His ears flicked up sharply, honing in on a sound he hadn’t even realized he’d heard. A soft thump as something light and silent hit the ground, and almost silent paw prints headed in his direction.

Dabi’s brain immediately went to the grey cat and he couldn’t stop his instinctual fight reaction. He found himself on his paws, bunched up and prepared to fight, a loud hiss on the tip of his tongue. He hadn’t even registered that the paw steps were heading towards him from the dumpster and not the alley entrance until he was making awkward eye contact with Scourge.

Dabi snapped his mouth shut before he could hiss and wake up the entire damn alley like a paranoid dickhead, he let his muscles relax too, wincing as the pain in his scars reminded him of its persistent presence.

Scourge was looking at him with the most puzzled expression he’d ever seen on a cat before.

The confused expression was quickly replaced with a glare and a lashing tail as Scourge unfroze and continued stalking past him and towards the exit. Dabi tilted his head as he watched him leave. It was late, maybe a little past midnight, what was Scourge up to?

The smaller cat had ordered no solo-patrols until the enemy had been taken care of, yet here he was leaving in the dead of night. Well, Dabi was already on his paws, he gave one last look towards the food pile before turning to follow Scourge out of the alley.

Despite the pain in his front arms he attempted to creep as silently as possible to the entrance where Scourge's tail had just fully disappeared around the bend. He crouched, waiting a few seconds before peaking out to see if he could follow the dark cat from afar, only to come nose to nose with said cat.

“Holy shi-“ Dabi hissed before cutting himself off as he skittered backwards a few steps.

An amused smirk just barely graced Scourge's muzzle, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Funny, I was thinking about asking you the same thing,” Dabi deadpanned, trying to calm his racing heart.

“I’m currently trying to decide if you’re worth all the trouble.” Scourge huffed, before turning and continuing his walk. Dabi couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. A small pang of anxiety spread through his chest.

“You’re the one who said no solo-patrols.” He shot back, trailing slightly behind, “wouldn’t want you putting yourself in any unnecessary danger.”

Scourge glanced at Dabi over his shoulder, flicking his tail, “I can handle myself fine.”

Dabi didn’t respond to that, and Scourge moved his focus back to whatever destination he was headed to. Of course he knew Scourge could handle himself, but Dabi was a paranoid freak, and he couldn’t resist an opportunity to possibly get closer to his new emo gang leader.

The dark cat didn’t seem to mind Dabi’s silent company all that much, he figured if the other truly had an issue with him following he would’ve let him know violently and immediately. He let himself relax and just follow, tuning into the sounds of the night around him.

Crickets were chirping somewhere, their high pitched music was only slightly aggravating, he thought he heard an owl scree nearby, he’d never really thought about it but his hearing really had improved since his transformation.

Scourge stopped suddenly, turning towards the road and looking both ways before darting across quickly. Dabi followed suit, ignoring the pulling of his damaged skin as he did so. He followed as the sleek cat in front of him scrambled up rotting wooden boxes stacked against a brick wall and slipped under a slightly open window of what looked to be an abandoned building.

They had gone farther than he realized, he didn’t know this area. He silently slipped in after Scourge, landing next to him as he swiftly jumped down to the moldy carpeted floor. The smell of rot and mildew hit his nose and he wrinkled his muzzle in disgust.

“Kitty Kitty!” Scourge called out suddenly.

The fuck-

A thump alerted him to the presence of a third cat, and he looked up to see a golden eyed silhouette staring down at them. The figure crouched, and Dabi felt himself tense in anticipation, only for the other cat to simply jump down to join them.

It was the black and white cat he’d seen at the fence with Gwen and Iris.

“Scourge.” She said plainly, in a surprisingly rough voice, nodding her head at Bloodclans leader before shooting Dabi a skeptical look.

“Skyfire-“ Dabi perked up at the name, still unused to it, “-is no threat to you.”

“Why’s he here?”

“Safety in numbers.” Scourge said, Dabi kept his face blank, figuring it was better to stay neutral and silent.

“Do you have what I asked for?” Scourge's icy eyes narrowed.

“I do.” The she-cat, Kitty Kitty? nodded, “unknown cat activity has been noticed near Dash’s two-leg place, I recognized none of the scents, possible camp in the small wooded pocket over there.”

“Any sightings of the cats listed?”

She shook her head, “Not yet, I have a few cats on the lookout.”

“Good enough for now, they'll reveal themselves with more time.” Honestly Dabi was startled they already had that much info, the attack had practically just happened. “Come to camp if you have any urgent updates.”

Scourge leaped up onto the windowsill, sliding out as quickly and quietly as he’d come in. Dabi looked back to the black and white cat.

“Not even a thank you.” She scoffed, staring at where Scourge had disappeared before turning her eyes to him.

Dabi just nodded at her, turning to leap up to the windowsill.

“Skyfire.” He stopped, his ears swiveling to face the cat behind him, “you be careful.”

“I will.” He said, before jumping up and creeping out after Scourge.

The smaller cat had already crossed the street by the time Dabi was climbing down the old crates. He leapt down and jogged across the street to catch up, wincing at the pain that flared through his scars.

“I’ve seen her before.” Dabi started after a few moments of silent walking.

“Hm, have you?” Scourge asked disinterestedly.

“Saw her go into the woods.” Scourge glanced over at him when he mentioned the woods, “You know about that?”

Scourge sighed, pausing to scratch at the fur under his spiked collar, “What she does is none of my concern, and it’s none of yours either.”

They continued walking. This time Dabi stayed almost shoulder to shoulder with Scourge (if you ignored how much taller he was) instead of trailing behind. If he loved anything, it was pushing his limits. Dabi wasn’t sure if Scourge was the type to get mad at others for walking next to him instead of behind him. The other cat didn’t seem to care though.

“Why’d you let me tag along? Seemed like a pretty private meeting.” Dabi tilted his head, curious.

Scourge hummed contemplatively, before turning his head to look directly into Dabi’s eyes.

“Consider it a test.” he looked away, “you passed. Now go rest.”

The smaller cat continued walking, but this time Dabi didn’t follow.

He was still hungry.

Chapter Text

Consciousness arrived faster than Dabi wanted it to, he had been hoping to sleep until midday at least, the world seemed to have different plans for him however.

Yowling and hissing filled his ears, and Dabi shot up abruptly, eyes blurred as his brain tried to catch up to his pounding heart. An attack, it had to be, though it was ballsy for the other group to attack-

A body slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and onto the pavement. All sleepiness rushed out of him as he tried to process what was happening.

He almost attempted to lash out with his flames only to notice just in time that there were no claws or teeth digging into him as he scrambled to get up, in fact the cat on top of him seemed more focused on untangling themselves than killing him. Finally the cat was off of him, not because the cat had successfully stood up, but because another cat had launched itself and tumbled both of them off of Dabi. That's when a familiar voice reached his ears.

“Scarlet, you softpawed suckup!” Spiderbell hissed from her position under the ginger cat- Scarlet, her claws out as she tried to batter the other she-cat, “You think you’re so much better, but you’re more rotten than crowfood!”

“Shut your mouth!” The green collared cat slashed Spiderbell's chest before Spiderbell rocked her body forward and sunk her teeth into the she-cats shoulder. Blood splattered the ground as Scarlet reeled back, sending them both tumbling more towards the middle of the alley.

“You’re only still here cuz Scourge took pity on you!” Scarlet spat the word pity like a slur, before using her hind-paws to shove Spiderbell off of her before launching herself at Spiderbell again.

The rest of the cats watched the destructive pair roll around with mild interest, others ignored the brawl entirely. Though Dabi was left a little stunned, he hadn’t seen any infighting since his attack on Gwen. It looked like the two were trying to kill each other.

“At least I’m not a two-faced fox!” Spiderbell yowled before Scarlet's maw chomped down on the back of the other she-cats neck and slammed Spiderbell against the wall. Dabi winced when he saw Spiderbell's head hit the brick.

He watched with half-hearted concern as Spiderbell scrambled to her paws and half-stumbled half-ran out of the alley, off to who knows where. Dabi looked up to where Scourge lay, expecting something at least, but when Scourge noticed his gaze all he did was roll his eyes and flop onto his side.

Shigaraki would have been on their asses if there was a fight like that, but Scourge and Shigaraki were two very different beings. He sighed as he watched Scarlet lick her wounds, Dabi and Spiderbell were not friends, but he considered her an ally. She was certainly more trustworthy than Scarlet was, to his knowledge.

It wasn’t safe for any of Scourge’s cats to be out by themselves at the moment, especially while injured and possibly concussed, so Dabi stood and followed where he’d seen Spiderbell disappear to.

The trail was easy to follow, small blood splatters littered the ground she’d passed over, and when the blood eventually stopped he was still able to follow. Her scent, he realized. He was able to recognize it.

The smell of her leapt suddenly and he looked up to see a cat sitting on a windowsill not too far off the ground. He bunched up his limbs and launched himself up, ignoring how the stretching and jostling of his scars made them ache as he landed.

Spiderbell didn’t turn to him at all, but he saw her eyes dart over to give him a side-eyed glare.

“What do you want, Skyfire.” She grumbled, her fluffy tail lashing sharply. Her chest fur was slightly matted with dried blood.

“Just making sure you weren’t leaving yourself open for an ambush.” Dabi said, ignoring her anger.

Spiderbell scoffed, “I’m not that mousebrained, they wouldn’t be able to catch me off guard like they did you.”

“Oh yeah.” Dabi rolled his eyes, “you’re certainly in fighting shape right now, not like you just got your ass kicked or anything.”

“You have no room to talk, half the time you can’t even stand!” She hissed, turning her head towards him to give him a full on glare.

“And yet I still pull my weight.” He paused, something Scarlet said sticking with him “What did she mean by Scourge pitying you?” Dabi tilted his head towards her, ears flicking curiously as Spiderbell’s muzzle curled into a snarl before she sharply turned away from him.

“Nothing.” She growled, “Scourge doesn’t do pity anyway, I’m here because I’m strong, because I proved myself. Just like you did.”

She was right, Scourge wasn’t one for pity. Sometimes it felt like pity was the only reason he’d been allowed in their little cat gang, it was a good reminder that that wasn’t the case. He sighed, why had he even bothered checking on her? He didn’t actually care, did he? It’s not like they interacted much, and whenever they did she usually threw at least one or two gendered insults his way.

Always something along the lines of being a ‘useless tom’. He would never say out loud that the word useless got to him still.

It was a shock she hadn’t in this conversation yet, though with her suspicious glances his way he could tell she probably wanted to. Normally Spiderbell was fine being alone with him, but normally she hadn't just gotten injured in a fight.

The way she looked at him made him feel gross, he didn’t want to think about why she may be so suspicious. He didn’t want to think about how her eyes when she gazed at him like that reminded him so much of his mother towards her last days in the house.

“You planning on heading back to camp anytime soon?”

Spiderbell didn’t answer at first, her face smoothing out into a more contemplative expression.

“No.” She meowed, “I have a task I need to get done today.”

She stood up and stretched briefly before crouching and jumping back down to the ground, she stumbled slightly on the landing and Dabi quickly followed her. If his presence bothered her, she was seemingly content to not say anything about it. Dabi didn’t bother questioning where they were going, his only goal was making sure she didn’t get attacked or collapse and die from her head injury. She got slammed pretty good.

He didn’t have much knowledge of head injuries, but he’d been on the receiving end of them enough to know how painful and dangerous they could be.

As annoying as the she-cat was, she was one of bloodclans heavy hitters, along with Bone, Scarlet, Gwen, and Snake, who he thinks is related to Bone in some way. Unless buff black-and-white cats were common. Maybe they were, he swore he’d seen a third buff black-and-white cat hanging around.

Dabi snapped back to attention, trying to shake off his constant zoning out, and looked around to see they were now walking through a nice neighborhood. It couldn’t have been too far from the fenced off woods.

Spiderbell stopped in front of an eye-catchingly colorful house, Dabi continued to follow silently as they walked around towards the back. Spiderbell, despite her injuries, leapt up onto the fence.

Dabi paused hesitantly, he hadn’t tested his balance that much since becoming a cat, jumping up on the fence seemed like a not very good idea with Spiderbell around. If he fell he’d never live it down. That was the last thing he needed when trying to earn respect.

“You coming?” Spiderbell called down to him, startling him out of his hesitation.

“Didn’t think you cared.” He grumbled as he bunched himself up and shoved off the ground, landing on the fence and just barely avoiding falling face first over the other side.

His tail flailed behind him, helping him steady. He looked over to were Spiderbell was watching him with an amused look. She turned and walked along the fence.

Dabi shakily went to follow her, carefully putting one paw in front of the other as he slowly made his way across the smooth wood. His claws were out and digging into the wood as he stepped, helping him keep grip.

“You look like a two-leg kit learning to walk.” Spiderbell deadpanned from where she now sat on the fence.

“Ha ha,” Dabi said sarcastically as he reached her and tried to mimic how she was sitting, “who the hell are we waiting for anyway?”

It couldn’t be the black and white She-cat from last night, Scourge had just visited her. Spiderbell didn’t get the chance to answer before an alarmed yowl interrupted.

“Look out, comin through!” A high-pitched raspy voice called out.

Dabi scrambled to the left just in time as a winged cat suddenly slammed into the fence right where Spiderbell and him had been sitting. He winced at the impact, and Spiderbell gave the.. she-cat? a startled look.

“Ah man, I almost slammed you guys, sorry bout that.” The blue-ish gray cat said as they scrambled to balance themselves on the fence, wings flaring behind them.

A quirked animal. Dabi had never even considered the possibility that any of the cats around the area could have quirks. Other than him of course. Yet there in front of him was a cat with wings that shimmered rainbow. No, they just were rainbow, the cat had rainbow feathers, what the fuck.

“And you are-“

“The one and only Rainbow Dash at your service!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, puffing out their chest in pride. Obnoxious.

“Rainbow Dash, not really one for sticking the landing still I see.” Spiderbell teased.

“Nah, you know me! Places to be, cats to talk to, not enough time to slow down. Speaking of which, I found something Scourge may find interesting!”

“Well, spill it.” Spiderbell demanded.

“I will, I will,” Rainbow Dash waved a paw at her dismissively before turning to Dabi, “but first, I don’t recognize you, which is unusual because I know every cat in the area.”

Spiderbell let out a huff of irritation as Dabi stared right back into Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes while the other cat studied him. It was an interesting color, it almost reminded him of Shigaraki’s. He couldn’t believe he missed that crusty creep, but stranger things had happened he supposed.

“That’s Skyfire, he’s not even supposed to be here-“

Dabi wondered what Toga was up to.

“Skyfire?” Rainbow Dash let out a sharp laugh, “what kinda name is that?”

He wondered if he was missed.

“What kinda name is Rainbow Dash?” Dabi shot back, eyes narrowing.

Were they looking for him?

“Uh an awesome one, duh!” Rainbow grinned, “my twoleg picked it out for me.”

“Twoleg-“ Dabi mumbled, his eyes caught on the blue collar he’d somehow missed. Rainbow Dash was a pet. He thought bloodclan looked down on “soft” or “weak” cats. That was what he himself had been made fun of for.

“Hey I know that look, I may be a kittypet but don’t be thinking I couldn’t claw your tail off in an instant if I felt like it.” They flashed him their claws, not at all clipped like he’d heard from other cats shittalking kittypets.

“I don’t doubt it. As for my name, it’s a name.” He deadpanned. He’d come up with it last minute because he’d needed something, it wasn’t anything to brag about.

Rainbow Dash just giggled, “Say, how long ya sticking around for?”

Dabi paused, he didn’t actually know. He didn’t really have a concrete plan other than survive and wait to turn back into a two- a human. How long had it been anyway, maybe around a month? Time had been so weird for him lately. He found himself using cat lingo more and more, caring about his clanmates, and even got himself involved in some weird cat battle. Speaking of-

“He’s staying for however long he feels like staying, which isn’t important.” Spiderbell stressed that last part, “what did you find.”

“Ah yeah, I almost forgot!” Rainbow flashed a cheeky grin at Spiderbell, “I found a camp. Poorly made moss beds, fresh-ish bones, some stray cat furs. No cats though, could’ve moved somewhere else.”

Spiderbell's eyes widened a fraction. “Where?”

“Not too far from here actually, just outside Bloodclan territory. The bench in front of that small patch of trees. Perfect place for a temporary hideout if ya ask me!”

“How do you know it’s them?” Dabi asked, a little suspicious on how easy it was to locate one of their bases, even if it was no longer in use.

“Oh I don’t, wasn’t there a few moons ago though. I don’t scout outside of Bloodclan territory very often.” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“You’re a part of bloodclan?” Dabi asked, a bit of genuine curiosity slipping through.

“Not really. I’m just bored and Scourge figured he could use some eyes in the sky.”

Dabi opened his mouth to ask another question only for Spiderbell to stop him.

“Well that’s all we needed, we really must be going, isn’t that right Skyfire.” She borderline hissed his name, glaring at him. Dabi glanced from her to Rainbow Dash and then back at her. Rainbow Dash was definitely pissing her off on purpose. He sighed.

“Sure.”

“My twoleg will probably be wondering where I am soon anyways, cya losers later!” Then with a crouch and a dramatic flair of those obnoxious wings, the blue-gray cat was off.

It reminded him of another someone.

With a quiet relieved sigh, Spiderbell hopped down to the ground, only to immediately stumble afterwards and collapse.

Dabi’s eyes widened and he immediately jumped down after her, landing smoothly and peering down at the she-cat. Her eyes were open, she was blinking, so she wasn’t dead.

“Uh, you good?” Dabi asked eloquently.

“Just a dizzy spell, I’ll be fine.” She said, her muzzle twitching as if just barely restrained from forming a snarl. Dabi took a step back and she relaxed a fraction.

Dabi remembered what Rainbow Dash had said, about the camp being nearby. They weren’t safe out there, they needed to get back to where they had a numbered advantage at least. He wondered if the stubborn she-cat had been struggling this badly the entire trip.

When he got down to hell at least he would be able to say he did something nice for once.

“We need to get back to camp, can you walk?” He asked, keeping his voice void of emotion.

“I can walk fine.” She hissed, slowly pushing herself up to her paws. They started the slow journey back, Spiderbell was sorta good at acting perfectly fine. Dabi only knew things were still pretty bad because of how she stopped to sit down or wavered at random intervals.

They were a little over halfway back when Spiderbell almost collapsed again. Dabi didn’t think before using his body to help her stay on her paws. She flinched at the contact, he could hear a low growl building up in the back of her throat, yet she didn’t say anything.

Maybe it was a sign Dabi was making progress. Maybe if he could get Spiderbell to trust him, he could get the rest to trust him too.

He helped her silently the rest of the way back, taking breaks as needed. She pushed away from him once they reached camp, walking as if she’d been in tip top shape the entire trip. Dabi scoffed at the act under his breath.

Dabi pretended not to see the smug looks Scarlet sent their way when her eyes caught them. He didn’t know what her deal was and he didn’t want to know. Though nowadays Dabi didn’t even know what he wanted most the time. He found himself following around others and helping with small tasks like some errand boy. He didn’t like being at the bottom, so maybe Dabi still wanted to rise to the top. Despite however temporary his current status as a cat may be.

“I’ll tell Scourge what Rainbow Dash told us.” Dabi stated. He wanted to tell her to go rest, but he knew that’d only make her reject his assistance. Seriously, he better be getting some good brownie points for all this.

Instead of a snide comment or insistence that she was fine, Spiderbell just nodded and walked over to her usual resting spot. It was much better than Dabi’s meager piece of cardboard. A flash of jealousy shot through him before he turned to leave her be.

Dabi walked up to the dumpster Scourge still lay upon, Scourge shot him an unreadable look. He once again found himself missing Shigaraki. Sure he was a childish asshole but he was a childish asshole who was easy to read and didn’t bother with hiding intentions. Scourge was none of that.

“Here to report what Rainbow Dash found.”

Scourge tilted his head, “That was Spiderbell's job, not yours.”

“Spiderbell got injured this morning, I helped out.”

“Curious how you feel the need to be in everyone’s business. Are you looking for something?” Scourge prodded. Dabi didn't know where his sudden suspicion had come from, maybe it had always been there, maybe Scourge was just in a bad mood.

“Bloodclans business is my business now, considering I’m one of your cats. Should I not be worried when one of my clanmates is hurt?” He rasped as his eyes narrowed. The dark cat's behavior was starting to grate on his nerves.

Scourge just hummed in contemplation. Leaving Dabi annoyed with his tail flicking back and forth behind him.

“Tell me what she found.”