Chapter Text
Dabi was tired. He was tired of life, tired of fighting to go on, tired of being alive. Dabi was just tired of existing. Ducking under another blast from the explosion pomeranian’s quirk Dabi sighed to himself as he let out another burst of brilliant blue flames at the heroes. The League were in yet another fight against the ex-students of 1A. The retirement of All Might and capture of Shigaraki had not been the end of the fighting. At his side, Compress and the lizard were busy trying not to get caught between Endeavor’s flames and a pointy place. That pointy place being the ice walls that Shouto had constructed midway through the fight. A crowd had gathered around to watch, reporters and civilians filming everything as the battle dragged on. Their lack of self-preservation made Dabi inwardly sneer. Oh, look. The paparazzi are treating this battle like a tv show. He could swear he saw some kids snacking as they watched and cheered on their heroes. This society infuriated him. It was this sort of media that let heroes get away with everything. “Heroes are good, villains are bad.” How very black and white. This logic was what hid the dark side of heroism that the public refused to see. A hero may appear flawless in the public eye, but Dabi knew more than anyone that heroes could be just as bad as villains, if not worse. Hiding their malicious smiles behind shining grins, heroes were worse because they lied about their true nature. You knew when a villain had been cruel, but heroes liked to pretend they were above that.
Dabi was distracted for a moment when a blue light hit him. The quirk had been fired from the crowd of onlookers. One of Toga’s knives had sailed in that direction and he was willing to bet that some civilian had used their quirk out of surprise and reflex when confronted with a bloody knife. Looking down at himself, he didn’t even have the time to wonder what the quirk was before he started to glow. One by one, each member of The League stopped fighting as they stared at him. The light only grew brighter and Dabi started to seriously contemplate the likelihood that he would explode. He didn’t need to think about it for too long though as the brightness forced him to close his eyes. This is how he’ll go then.
When he managed to open his eyes again he was surprised to find no fighting around him. It wasn’t as if the heroes and The League stopped fighting. It was that he was alone in a busy street. People walked in and out of stores casually, going about their daily business, not paying him any attention whatsoever. He wasn’t used to being ignored like this. Having purple scars all over his body had ensured he stood out in any crowd, even before he became a villain. As Dabi stood on the street and looked around at the bustling neighborhood he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of a store window. It was him but at the same time, it wasn’t. His skin was burnt. It should’ve been purple. Instead of the zombie, held together by staples and luck that he had expected to see, he was greeted by a young man with snow-white hair and pale, blemish-free skin. This is what he would have looked like if his quirk didn’t burn him alive. Inspecting himself in the reflection of the window, he was pleased to find that he felt no pain. Expected considering he didn’t look like he had just crawled out of one of Ujiko’s experiments. Placing a hand on his face and giving himself a pinch he yelped as he felt the stinging pain. This wasn’t a dream. This was his new reality.
Dabi decided to walk around the neighborhood to work out where the hell that quirk had transported him and what it did to him. Passing by a large billboard he was shocked to see today’s date. January 20th, 2XXX. HE WAS IN THE PAST?! As Dabi forced himself to keep his expression blank, his thoughts raced as he pondered about what this would mean for him. If today was January 20th, 2XXX, then he should have just turned 10 years old 2 days ago. At this age, he would have been killing himself in an effort to try to get that man’s attention. The Masterpiece was already born and his existence was a reminder that he was nothing more than a failure. Dabi grit his teeth. No. He would not be walking down that path again. Dabi will live for himself from now on. Endeavor. Enji Todoroki. Meant nothing to him. That man was now a stranger. Dabi will save himself from the flames of obsession. He’ll be a normal civilian and be happy from now on.
Dabi stared at his hands, a smile slowly starting to overtake his previous expression. He was free.