A man stood on a cliffside. It was night and just some dozen meters below, there was a forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. Man-made light lit the places where a camp was set for the students of UA. At least that's what this man and the organization he'd just joined told him.
He didn't care much for the people he was working for. Whatever they intended to do, it wasn't really a concern of his. For now, he needed them, needed their connections, and their position. He needed all those things for the one thing that was his concern.
Now, he looked out into the forest, waiting for the order.
"Dabi."
The man turned at the sound of his name, lazily, his eyes half-shut in a sort of careless manner. Taking his hands from the pockets of his coat, he took a step away from the edge, went to meet the voice calling him.
"Tomura." He answered, nodding his head in acknowledgment. "Thought you were meant to wait back at base with Kurogiri-"
"You're not my superior! Don't get things twisted!"
Ah, yes, such an emotional boy. Dabi and him were close in age, but compared to him, Tomura had a lot of growth still left when it came to controlling himself.
"I'm just curious as to why you're here. Toga and Spinner are already down there along with the rest of your goons-"
"Don't call them that, you ungrateful little twat."
Similar in age and height too, but Tomura seemed even taller than Dabi when he stood so close as to call him names.
Dabi wasn't intimidated by such things though.
He knew Tomura's master was the one to fear, to avoid more than anything. He didn't trust that guy for a second.
Still, Dabi had some interest in Shigaraki. Not in him, per se, but in his past.
After all, when he went by a different name, a different life, he used to share a home with someone who claimed to remember him quite well. The first time Dabi set eyes on Shigaraki, he thought of her: the little girl who hid under tables in the halls at night and was kept from him and his siblings.
One night, Dabi snuck out of his room when his parents were asleep, found the little girl a few years younger than him holding her knees to her chest against the wall by the window.
She was falling asleep, but it seemed every time her eyes closed and her head fell, it snapped right back up. He realized then, she probably didn't like sleeping alone. Didn't like being somewhere without windows and visible points of escape.
She was such a frightened little thing, never really knowing where to go and only ever told to do things by his father.
The boy hated that she was being used. He just imagined her always feeling like she was destined for second place because his amazing little brother would always be better. It was just cruel. A cruelty he could relate to.
Angry at the thought, he went to her, nudged her, reached out his hand so she would take it and follow him.
"Don't worry little miss." He said, because his father never told him what her name was. "You can sleep in my room if you want. I'm not tired anyway."
It'd been years now. When he saw her for the first time on tv at the festival, he couldn't believe how much she'd grown. And exactly as he'd expected, she was a shadow to Todoroki.
