Broken Soul

Chapter 15

Midoriya, Toga and Dabi sat in the main area, glasses of juice in front of them. Kurogiri had left them alone a while ago and since then, they'd talked a bit. The greenette was beginning to warm up to these new recruits. Shigaraki had accepted them after he had returned from his walk, saying something about them being useful for an upcoming plan. Izuku didn't exactly know what that meant.

Toga raised her glass to her lips, taking a small sip of cranberry juice. Despite her quirk being blood-related, she didn't have to drink it all the time. She could still drink and eat normally like the rest of the population. She just had to drink blood enough that she'd prevent her blood-thirst and cravings.

"So," Dabi looked at the greenette directly, "How'd you end up here? You seem quite young."

Izuku hesitated. Could he trust them? The only people who really knew about his past were Tomura, Kurogiri and All For One. Although Garaki was All For One's assistant, the potato-headed man had promised Izuku he wouldn't tell him much about why he's here.

He looked at them, seeing the trustful and pleading looks in their eyes, "Um.. "

Himiko placed her glass down, before settling her hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, Izuku!" She smiled at him. It was warm, unlike the sadistic one she'd worn when they'd first met, "Wanna know why I'm here?"

"Didn't you say you were here because of Stain or.. something..?"

She took her hand back, "Hm, yes!" Her face darkened ever so slightly, "But, something else had happened." She took a deep breath before a small smile appeared on her face, "My life used to be all happy and cheerful until I got my quirk."

Izuku knew this. Too well. Quirks changed everything. They broke relationships. They destroyed families. They brought harm to people.

He'd been a victim himself. Growing up quirkless, other kids weren't exactly nice about it. As soon as he was deemed quirkless, he lost his childhood friend. As soon as he was deemed quirkless, getting hurt was normal. As soon as he was deemed quirkless, the whole world had turned against him.

"I had brought in a bird I'd drank the blood of and my parents were.. disgusted. It was a typical reaction, of course, but it still hurt." She averted her eyes as Dabi leaned in closer, intrigued, "They told me I had to become 'normal', that I had to fit in. One day, I had enough and drank the blood of my classmate. I'd become a villain in middle school."

Izuku's eyes filled with anger, "Society is nothing but quirkist nowadays."

Her mood changed quickly, "So, what about you?"

"I.." He looked up, feeling more confident by their trustful expressions, "I had a childhood friend up until I was deemed 'quirkless'. Then, everyone turned against me. Teachers turned a blind eye when I got bullied, others bullied me relentlessly, leaving me to return home covered in bruises. I even got suicide-baited once." He smiled sadly, "But I still wanted to be a hero."

The ravenette quirked an eyebrow, "So, what changed?"

"I was in my last year of middle school when I'd gotten attacked by the sludge villain. All Might saved me but, like the fanboy I was, I held onto him which led to us landing on a rooftop." He avoided eye contact, "I'd asked if I could become a hero without a quirk and he just said I should pick a normal attainable and realistic career." He became interested in the floor of the bar, "That was my breaking point. Then, I subconsciously walked to an alleyway and All For One found me."

"Wait, you said you were quirkless, right?" Izuku nodded, "Then, how do you have a quirk now?"

Toga had heard of the villain 'Deku' having some sort of fire-related quirk. So, him being 'quirkless' didn't make any sense to her.

He smiled sheepishly, "All For One gave me two quirks.." He noticed the ravenette next to Toga, "Wait, Dabi?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you a villain?" His eyes widened as he started to wave his hands in front of him, "Sorry, that was insensitive!"

He chuckled, "No, it's fine." He picked up his glass, "My father was abusive. He would train me to use my fire, but, my quirk wasn't fitted for my body," He gestured to his burns, "Obviously." He chuckled sadly, "Soon, he gave up on me because of my burns. When my little brother was born, he ignored me and my other siblings. One day, I had enough and ran away, but I lost control of my quirk and started a forest fire." He looked directly at Izuku and Toga, "The world thinks I'm dead. If that's a good or bad thing, I don't know."

Dabi set his glass down, uninterested in a taking a sip. He looked around, avoiding the eyes of his.. friends.. acquaintances.. whatever they were! Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around him. He turned his head to see a familiar greenette hugging him.. kind of.

The ravenette stood up, returning the hug as he wrapped his arms around the smaller male, "What's wrong, trouble?"

"I just wanted to give you a hug.." Izuku stepped away, "I-I'm sorry I didn't a-ask."

He panicked, "No, no, it's fine! I thought something was wrong." He pulled Midoriya towards him, giving him the hug again before ruffling his hair.

Izuku smiled before resting his head against the older male's chest. Dabi looked over to Toga, seeing the lonely expression on her face.

"Crazy, get over here. I know you wanna join in."

Himiko jumped up happily, setting down her drink as she joined the hug. She wrapped her arms around them both before resting her head against his chest. Dabi hesitated before wrapping his own arms around them both.

They had somehow reminded him of his siblings. Himiko reminded him of his sister while Izuku reminded him of his youngest brother. He smiled at the thought of them, looking down at the two teenagers.

I swear I'll protect you both.