Vigilante

Forty Five

Kosuke wasn't sure how long she'd been in captivity. Could have been days, could have been weeks, but at the very least she was kind of sure that it hadn't been over a month yet. If it had, then her internal clock was really off. 

Dabi was rarely away from her side, which at the very least helped her stay sane. She didn't want to admit it, but because of how much time they were spending together, she was starting to get pretty comfortable around the villain.

Kosuke was very sure that her hands would need a while to go back to normal, since they had gone numb a while back. She literally could not feel them anymore. When that first happened, she'd had a panic attack where she'd somehow made herself bleed. Dabi had been out for whatever reason, but Toga had been in.

She'd come into the room when she had heard the muffled sobbing and pleading, but she'd immediately been drawn to the blood dripping from his arms and hands. Kosuke hadn't even noticed her until her arms had been lowered, Toga having taken the chain off of the wall for a bit so that she could bandage what had been hurt.

Of course, she first got her fill of Kosuke's blood.

"Oh wow," She keened as she licked it straight off of her arm. "This is heavenly, not as metallic as most blood is. What are your secrets?!" She demanded, but considering the hero was still in the midst of a panic attack, all Kosuke could do was shake her head while begging for help. "Fine, fine, stop squirming," Toga told her before sighing and climbing on top of her.

That sent the hero into another crying session as she was now screaming for help, thrashing under her to get her off. "Shit," She growled, only for Dabi to show up at that exact moment. Talk about timing.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"TRYING TO HELP HIM SINCE HE'S FREAKING OUT, DUH!" The two yelled at each other, and it was then that the patchwork took in the situation: Kosuke's arms were bleeding, so were her hands, so were the fading burns, and she was crying.

"Get off of her right now before I drag you like last time."

"Or how about you be helpful and go grab some bandages?" Toga scoffed at him.

"D-dabi," The two paused in their argument at the sound of Kosuke's voice. "Please help me," she whimpered. "I-I can't..."

"Hey, it's okay," Dabi promised, and ended up doing as he had threatened and dragged the psycho off of their captive. "Everything's okay, tell me what you need."

"I..." Kosuke hiccupped. "I can't feel my arms.. Or my hands... Dabi, please.. I, this, this is.."

"Here," Toga grumpily returned with some things that would help fix the girl up. After that, Kosuke had felt a prick at her neck, and then she had passed out. It had not been pretty, it only got better when Dabi reminded her that there was no escape. That it was better to accept it, accept that she couldn't feel her arms, accept her situation, at least that way she wouldn't be torturing herself.

And honestly, it had gotten a bit better when Kosuke finally accepted everything. She was still chained to the wall, still had her blindfold, but she wasn't wasting her energy fussing over things anymore.

Even when Toga took an opportunity of Dabi being gone threaten her into telling the villain everything there was to know about Midoriya, Kosuke hadn't wasted her energy complaining or resisting. That had been the day she almost escaped. During the middle of their quizzing session, Kosuke had asked Toga to remove her blindfold so that she could see if she was Midoriya's type.

Surprisingly, it worked.

She opened her eyes for the first time in forever. She could see for the first time in forever. She felt her eyes water, but she forced them to stay open. "Your eyes are pretty, Ko-chan," Toga commented as she cupped her face. Kosuke could see her properly now, so she tilted her head slightly. "So, what do you think?"

And that was when Toga's shadow conked her on the head, effectively making her pass out. Kosuke let out a sigh of relief the moment she hit the ground.

"Thank you," She murmured to the shadow once it had freed her from the chains with some lock picks. She tried moving her fingers, but all she got was a flinch, and she couldn't even feel it. Sighing, she reminded herself that she didn't have much time and if she was going to escape, it needed to be fast.

She shouldn't have detoured to grab clothes.

"Where do you think you're going?" Was the last thing the girl heard before something slammed onto the back of her head, and Kosuke was out. The next time she woke up, she was back in the bed with chains on her wrists and her blindfold back on. It was like she'd never left. "A valient effort, but sadly..." Dabi's voice trailed off, and suddenly there was pain. "That's not enough to escape me."

Kosuke knew that feeling, knew that sensation, knew that smell. She was being burned again. The other burns had been pretty fast but hot. This time, though, the flames scarred her skin for over a minute, reducing her to sobs, pleads and tears.

And the worst part was that the burn was on her leg. "Try running away again and you'll be collecting these," Dabi threatened and slapped the burn he had just created, drawing a cry from his captive. "You'll be a good girl now, won't you?"

"Y-yes," Kosuke's voice came out in a whisper as more tears leaked from her eyes. Humming in content, Dabi pressed his lips to Kosuke's in a short kiss before standing up and proclaiming he was going to get some food ready for them.

As the villain left the room, Kosuke's thoughts conjured up the first of many suicidal ideations:

Maybe the only way to escape is through death. At least if I die, I won't be hurt anymore. Won't have to endure anymore. Won't have to fight anymore. Won't have to live through this anymore.

No, no, she shook her head of such thoughts, I need to escape. I can't die yet. No, I need to free my dad before I could even think of dying. With that thought, his resolve returned. Though, it didn't take much longer for that resolve to crumble.