Chapter Text
Why does Dabi still work with (or for, depending on who you ask) Shigaraki?
This guy is infuriating! He never helps cook dinner, is always playing video games, and he ALWAYS leaves his stinky ass socks all over the base. Dabi shudders at the thought of the nasty, stained socks he found between the couch cushions that morning; those things are a biohazard at this stage.
But, despite his dislike for Shigaraki's bad habits and even worse socks, he still views him like a younger brother. The boy annoys him to no end, but he'd still risk his life for the crusty kid (and yes, Dabi calls him kid. He may be 20, but he's still younger than Dabi, and he acts like a 7-year-old. Sue him). Shigaraki and the rest of the League were his family; they may not be related by blood, but they were the people he chose. And he'd much rather be with them than his pathetic excuse of a father.
This is how he finds himself on a duo mission with Shigaraki to meet with the leader of the Shie Hassaikai, Overhaul, to potentially form an alliance. Overhaul had requested to make this alliance with the League and had arranged for them to meet in Overhaul's base. Dabi was super suspicious, especially since they would be meeting on Overhaul's turf, but alas, Shigaraki had agreed to the meetup anyway.
It was originally going to be a group mission (family trip, if you will), but both Dabi and Shiggy agreed that they didn't trust Overhaul to be around their friends, so they decided to go just the two of them. And Kurogiri's warp on standby, just in case.
Kurogiri proved once again that he was the most important member of the League with his warp gate. Dabi should remember to thank him more, maybe give him a card to show his appreciation.
After the two had warped to the meeting spot with Overhaul, they found themselves in front of the most obnoxious and self-absorbed person they had ever met! Not only had this ass hole demanded that they should basically submit to him and work under him, but he had also admitted to keeping a young girl locked up so he could use her quirk to make Quirk-Destroying Bullets. Don't ask him how Shiggy had gotten the guy to admit all that to people who didn't even work for him yet; he has no clue how his younger counterpart managed to manipulate the guy into revealing something so important.
"Wait, so you're saying that you have a young girl being held captive that you torture to make drugs that you can shoot?" Dabi clarified, not beating around the bush.
"It's not drugs! Don't call it that, you make it sound bad when you put it in the same category as the devil's lettuce and shit like that, it is medication! And it will be the cure of humanity!" Dabi side-eyed Shigaraki, seeing the same unimpressed look on his face that Dabi had on his, "My revolutionary Quirk-Destroying Bullets will be the only thing that can rid this horrid world of quirks!" Shiggy glanced at Dabi again, 'Is this guy serious? What the fuck is wrong with him?' he mouthed as Overhaul continued his spiel about how quirks are diseases and how it's his job to fix them by using his Quirk-Destroying Bullets to permanently remove them from people. Dabi shrugged. He had no clue what the hell this guy was spouting.
As Overhaul went on, Dabi began to feel sick as he described what he had done to the girl in his care. Sure, Dabi was a murderer and serial arsonist, but he wasn't a bad person. He knew what it felt like to have an abusive caretaker, and considering how much that affected him, he wouldn't allow abusers, rapists, or pedophiles to run free and always made an effort to incinerate them when he had the chance. So listening to this freak proudly boast about what he did to a child was unforgivable in Dabi's eyes; he could tell Shigaraki felt the same from the pissed expression he had plastered to his crusty face.
The only thing Dabi can confirm tonight: Overhaul would be dead by the time the sun rises.
"So," Overhaul continued, "After you submit to my superior leadership and the League of Villains becomes one with the Shie Hassaikai, I shall rule the world!" Yeah... that settles it, this guy was delusional.
"And what if we refuse?" Shigaraki raised one of his eyebrows, still giving the ass hole in front of him a look of pure disgust.
"Then," Overhaul stuttered like he hadn't expected that reaction, "Then I'll have to kill you". He raised his hand, but both Dabi and Shiggy already knew what his quirk could do from his long speech earlier, so they knew not to let him touch them and hastily dodged out of the way.
"You go look for the girl he spoke about, and incinerate anyone you can see, leave this entitled bitch to me". Shiggy shouted to Dabi, his eyes not leaving Overhaul once.
"Fuck yeah," Dabi responded before running out of the room they were in and into a long passage. He supposed it was a good thing Overhaul wanted to meet in his own base; it would make killing them all and saving the kid so much easier.
Dabi immediately came face to face with one of Overhaul's men, what's his name? Whatever, Dabi couldn't care less and just cremated the loser.
The same thing happened a dozen or so more times, he came face to face with a ‘strong’ or ‘unbeatable' member of the Shie Hassaikai and just burned them to a crisp in seconds. It was rather disappointing how weak they were.
Then, in one of the doors he opened (or melted, it was the best way to enter a locked door), he saw a little, white-haired girl, her arms were covered in bandages, and her eyes were puffy from tears. This must be the child Overhaul tortured for his drugs
Seeing her sitting there felt like a punch to the gut. He knew exactly how she felt. Covered in wounds, being physically and mentally abused, that was what he had experienced while living with Endeavor. He made an oath right there to protect this girl no matter what.
”Hey kid, it’s ok, I’m here to save you.” Dabi said in the gentlest voice he could muster, which wasn’t that pleasant considering the damage his flames caused considerable damage to his neck and throat over time.
”My name's Dabi and I’m gonna get you out of here, ok?”
She nodded and reached for him. Just how traumatized was this girl if she sought comfort from a stranger who looked like he got caught in a toaster?
”I'm Eri,” She said in the saddest little voice he had ever heard. His heart broke all over again. Dabi gently picked her up and wrapped her up in his jacket, bundling her up against his chest to protect her.
”Could you stay still for a bit so I can get us out of here?” He asked her.
She nodded against his shirt while snuggling into him.
”Just make sure to keep your eyes closed and block your ears, ok?” He didn’t want her to see or hear what he was gonna do to the other monsters he came across in that building. He’d kill anyone who approached him, but wouldn’t actively seek the bastards out since he had Eri with him; it could be seriously traumatic for a kid her age.
And with that, Dabi set off to find Shigaraki (he had forgotten to bring his phone so he couldn’t call Kurogiri without Shiggy. Not his brightest moment, considering he was in enemy territory). Hopefully, he had killed that ass Overhaul by now, so they could leave soon.
That's when everything started to go wrong.
Dabi had killed 5 men who were all wearing those stupid bird masks they all seemed to love wearing when someone hit him with a quirk that made him feel all dizzy and disorientated, kind of like he was drunk. Which was a bit concerning because he's a heavyweight and basically never drinks enough to get drunk, so this feeling was almost completely foreign to him. And because of this foreign feeling, he started to panic (You can't blame him, he was stressing out as he not only had to keep himself alive but also protect Eri)
Eri must have picked up on his panic because her hand clutched him tighter, little fingers digging into his scarred skin. He managed to pull it together enough to set the quirk wielder ablaze, but the effect of his quirk didn't dissipate despite his death. At least the hallway they were in was empty now.
Dabi kneeled on the floor, trying to ground himself, and placed Eri on the floor so he wouldn't accidentally drop her.
"Are you ok? You look sick." Eri observed worriedly.
"It's ok, kid," Dabi tried to sound reassuring, but his head was spinning, "I just feel a bit dizzy from that one guy's quirk."
Eri looked like she was contemplating something and then quietly said, "I can try fix it, my quirk lets me make things go away, that's why it's bad, but I want to make your dizzies go away. So I can try if you want."
'Make things go away?' How did that work? And would it actually work? Of course! That's why Overhaul used her, a quirk that made things go away, should, in theory, be able to remove quirks, right? Damn, how Dabi wished he had asked that son of a bitch how the Quirk-Destroying Bullets were made in more detail; all he knew right now was that Overhaul tortured her in order to make it, not what her quirk was to make such things possible. Well, he was presumably dead right now, so there's no use dwelling on it. The bigger problem at hand is whether he should let Eri try to remove the quirk he was under. It was kind of his only choice right now; they were in the middle of the enemy's base and he could barely walk straight, if they bumped into any of Overhaul's men right now, they would be completely defenseless. He took a minute to decide, then turned to face Eri.
"Yes, if you can make it go away with your quirk, then please try." Now his fate was with the universe, and all he could do was pray that he wouldn't die or anything.
Dabi watched, fascinated, as the little horn on Eri's head began to glow; her eyes were shut in concentration, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Then.. nothing.
He straight-up blacked out.
When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he noticed was that his head no longer felt woozy like before. Yes! Dabi thought, her quirk worked, now we can get the fuck out of here! Then he noticed Eri standing above him, horror on her face and tears in her eyes.
Oh shit, what happened?
He was answered pretty quickly when he propped himself on his elbows and saw the size of his body, or the lack of size.
He was tiny.
The kind of tiny you are in your younger years, when you're still going through puberty and your voice still hasn't broken yet.
The kind of tiny you are when your father decides you're worthless now because his new successor just got his perfect quirk.
The kind of tiny you are when you're a 13-year-old boy.
Dabi stared at himself, then slowly turned his gaze to an equally shocked Eri. They both froze for a solid 30 seconds; neither of them dared to move or breathe.
That's when a sudden bash came, effectively breaking them out of their trans. One of the closed, unmelted doors harshly swung open to reveal a group of at least 10 bird-masked men.
"Shit." Dabi exclaimed as he stared at the men, sure he could usually take them down, no biggie, but right now he didn't know if he'd be able to with his small body or if Eri's quirk had affected his fire as well, "We gotta get out of here, RIGHT NOW!" He screamed the last part as he bolted to his feet, grabbed Eri's hand, which was now the perfect height to hold (He had forgotten just how small and skinny he was when he almost died on that mountain), and the two of them sprinted.
Dabi hoped he was leading them in the right direction. He had gotten disoriented during the whole getting drunk thing, and now being a 13-year-old so he was praying that they'd find Shigaraki soon.
Another crash could be heard. This one didn't come from a door though, but rather a wall as it disintegrated in front of them, revealing a smug Shigaraki and the most beautiful-looking warp gate Dabi had ever seen. Thank God for Kurogiri!