(Y/n POV)
"Harlon... saved you?" I slowly utter under my own breath, trying to process what this villain is telling me, "What do you mean by that?"
Dabi lets out a small chuckle and with a serious tone he explains, "A few years back, around 7 years ago, I was kidnapped by that notorious group you know as 'Smoke'. They wanted to experiment on certain drugs they were creating so they took me."
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7 Years Ago...
(Dabi POV)
'Kidnapped by another villain group... Ironic,' I think to myself as I try to use my quirk to burn the handcuffs off of me; only to fail miserably.
I let out an annoyed sigh as I can't do anything. I lay there with my hands tied back in a confined room, waiting for my supposed death as they need to experiment on me. I hear the sounds from outside the door as they prepare the materials that, I'm guessing, will be injected into me.
There is another door across from the one that leads to the villains. Though even if I wanted to escape, it would be impossible to fight against all 15 of them.
I suddenly hear the other door creak open and I prepare to struggle for my life; if I'm going to die, then I'll die fighting for my own life. Instead of seeing a gang member of Smoke, I spot a person sneaking in who clearly appears to be a hero. His eyes were serious but soft. He gazes towards me places a finger to lip to signal that I should be quiet. He uses, what I'm guessing, is his quirk and hardens the door leading to the gang members. Unfortunately, a gang member tries to open the door and notices he can't open it. A loud banging sound comes from the door as they try to open it.
"I'm here to save you," The hero says calmly, his voice emanating a warm reverberating ring, and removes the chains off of my hands.
I scoff at the hero and roll my eyes, "Don't save me. You'll just die if you try and fight them. Heroes are such idiots. They will clearly overpower you and end up killing me as well."
He plants both of his hands on my shoulders, sternly stating to me with a strong but compassionate voice, "Listen to me. You won't die here. You'll keep living in this world. You'll grow and grow. You'll be okay. So trust me when I say I'll save you."
I squint my eyes at him, knowing that Heroes are full of trash. If I tell him that I plan to become one of these people, I doubt he would save me.
"You'll save me even if I become a bad person?" I ask with a dark expression, hoping to see this Hero's resolve falter.
Instead he smiles gleamingly at me and proudly states, "Even so, I'll save you because that's what a hero does! Plus, I need to stop these people from doing any more bad things."
My eyes widen at this man at his hardened resolve and resist the urge to smile back. This idiotic resolve was both something to admire yet despise simultaneously. The gang members finally tear down the door, revealing around 15-20 people ready to fight. The hero then suddenly pushes me towards the safe area and gives me a thumbs-up before quickly swiping his right arm towards the wall and placing his thumb gently on his lips.
Even though I was a bad person, he decided to risk his life and save me. In my eyes, this man is what a hero is. Even if I didn't ask to be saved, he went in and saved me. He was a Hero in my eyes.
"My name is Tsukishima Harlon, also known as the 'Manipulating Hero: Mutare'! Don't forget that!" I hear him shout out to me before he rushes to engage into the battle against all those other group members.
I watch as the walls move with Harlon closing his fist to block off the enemies from catching up to me, probably from his quirk. As I run away with all my might, I know in my heart that will be the last time I'll see him. Even if society doesn't know who you are, I'll never forget that name.
His name was Harlon. Tsukishima Harlon.
Even if I hate heroes with every fibre of my being, I will forever be thankful to him.
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Back to the present...
(Y/n POV)
I stay in complete awe and sadness of that story; I knew Harlon was a brave hero that was strong but to go to those lengths to protect someone was something else. He died as a true hero.
"He was truly amazing you know? Apparently he defeated more than 10 of them before he died so that's why Smoke isn't as big anymore," Dabi lets out a melancholic sigh, "Dollface, I've been waiting all these years to tell you."
My sentence gets caught in my throat before I can finally tell him sincerely, "Thank you for telling me. I knew he died a hero."
Dabi nods and smiles with a sullen expression on his face, "So when I found out that he has a little sister, I swore to keep an eye on you as a thank you for Harlon at least."
"So that's why you were at the hospital and visited his grave," I smile at him, feeling joy that people still remember him.
"Ever since, it's been kept under wraps who led that entire investigation. It's likely that it was a high ranking police officer; I checked out other top heroes and they were on other jobs at the time, including Best Jeanist," Dabi takes out a piece of folded paper and places it in front of my eyes, "Even if we did defeat Smoke, could you also forgive the person who let your brother die?"
My eyes widen as I realise what he is saying; even if I eliminate those who killed my brother, what about the people who let my brother die?
Who... Who am I supposed to be now?
Harlon was who I always aspired to be and his death is what drove me to become even better to discover the truth.But if finding out the truth means that I need to go against the law, then who am I supposed to become. It's all so confusing. What am I supposed to do now?
"Join me. Let's find out the truth together," Dabi stretches out his rough palm to me, "Let's defeat Smoke and find who led the investigation."
Tempting...
Could I really join Dabi? Can I go against what I've been doing all this time?
I almost grab onto his palm until Dabi's eyes squint as he retracts his hand to listen to what is happening outside.
We suddenly hear someone from the outside ask, "Hello, this is Pizza-la Kamino."
This question is followed by a loud explosion coming from the outside room. I hear All Might's voice yelling his signature move and stand up immediately. Other heroes are heard at the same time, such as Kamui Woods and etc. Unable to decide what to do on the spot, I look back and forth between the locked door and Dabi.
Dabi takes my hand quickly and whispers into my ear, "If they do end up getting you back, I'll give you more time to decide. I'll come back to you and you can tell me your answer then."
The door to the backroom gets busted down as well and Dabi gets wrapped around Kamui's quirk, getting hit by Gran Torino as well with immense speed to knock him out. Kamui then uses his quirk to gently wrap his branches around me and bring me towards All Might.
All Might pats my head gently and happily comments, "I'm sure you were scared, but you held it together. I'm sorry. You're safe now, young (Y/n)!"
"I'm okay. I wasn't too scared!" I wave to them happily, internally relieved that my life isn't in immediate danger anymore.
Though, Dabi's offer lingers in my mind and never leaves. All Might informs Shiguraki that his Nomu creations aren't in the area they were supposed to be in. All of their names are revealed due to the efforts of the heroes and police together.
Before the heroes can do anything properly though, the area is covered within spots of black liquid and I feel myself get taken out of All Might's arms. I feel my insides suffocate; this isn't like the portal man's quirk. This is the work of someone else.
I get transported next to a man in a full tux. My fear spikes through my entire body as I feel his power seeping off of him; this man was dangerous. Deadly. That's what my body was saying to me as I stood in complete fear of him. I see Best Jeanist apprehend him quickly, but before my worries are eased, he defeats all of the heroes present in a blink of an eye.
Best Jeanist attempts to fight back but a hole is blown into his stomach and he proceeds to bleed out immensely. I feel sick to my stomach as I watch Best Jeanist get absolutely beaten up by this man. I want to do something, but what can I do against someone who defeated my mentor in just a second? Tears flow into my eyes as I see Best Jeanist lay unconscious on the floor.
"Sorry Tsukishima," He says as he teleports the other villains into the area.
My brain rattles with ideas as I try to think about a plan to try and escape this area. I then see All Might fly down and fight again the man in the tux known as All for One. I hold onto my hair as it flies back from the impact of All Might. I see All Might get blown back by One for All's quirk and my mouth is left agape.
"No need to worry. He won't die from something like that," One for All calmly comments while ordering Kurogiri to teleport everyone out of here, including me.
I look at Dabi who is unconscious and taken into Mr Compress' hold. My eyes gaze to all of the villains that are around me and prepare to fight back. I carefully take a huge breath of air and swipe at the floor to find the composition.
Mr Compress runs towards me to try and use his quirk on me once more. I use my quirk to quickly raise the ground and knock him away on his chin while dodging Himiko Toga's attack with her knife. She swipes at me and I take her arm and throw over my back, flinging her onto the floor. I use my quirk to entrap her into the ground while barely dodging Mr Compress' once again.
'6 against 1... I don't know if I can do this...' I comment while sweating from moving too much, 'Even if I used the blood aspect of my quirk to get them to stop, I doubt I can identify them all on my own! How can I get out of here? I need to leave so All Might can fight properly! I'm sorry villains but I'll have to hurt you guys!'
Instead of resorting to rectangular shapes to knock them away using my quirk, I change the shape to be sharp so that they'll get impaled instead. Swiping my arm, I catch Mr Compress' leg by stabbing it deeply with the ground so that he can't catch me. I take another deep breath to control the air and stop the movement from flowing in and out of the villains' lungs. As they all struggle to breathe properly, I hear a wall break and ice form into a high pillar.
"(Y/n)!" I suddenly hear Bakugou's voice and an explosion running straight for me, "Use your quirk!"
I use my quirk to stop the villains from attacking him, creating large walls to form a straight path to Bakugou. He quickly gives grabs onto my hand and gives me a kiss on my lips. The kiss was so fast that it was almost like it didn't happen. My mind is filled with so many thoughts that I can't organise them right now.
Villains kidnapped me, All Might is fighting someone as strong as him, Best Jeanist was severely hurt, Dabi made an offer that I have to think about, I'm trying to fight off 6 villains all at once and Bakugou is here and just kissed me.
My eyes widens as I let out a small whisper that I'm not sure he heard, "Bakugou...?"
Bakugou lifts me, carrying me under his arm and shouts, "Let's fucking go!"
Before I can say anything to tell him off for doing something so reckless, Bakugou blasts himself, while holding me, into the air. He grabs onto Kirishima's hand and smirks, still holding onto my body and we begin to fall down. Mr Compress then flies towards us, but Mt Lady protects us by using herself as a shield. We then land carefully down onto the ground and go into the city to be guided by the Pro Heroes to evacuate.
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Few minutes later near the train station...
We end up near the train station in front of a large television. Midoriya calls Todoroki to inform him that they are safe. I then turn around to look at the people who rescued me and my eyes fill with tears. They risked their lives and careers as future heroes just to save me.
Taking Bakugou's cheeks into my fingers, I pinch them extremely hard until he starts yelling, "What are you doing you dumb girl?!"
"That's what I should be saying to you and the rest of you!" I yell back at him, "You idiots! Why would you do that! You're going to get in so much trouble! You could've gotten hurt..."
Bakugou angrily places both of his hands onto my cheeks and states sternly, "You really think I would leave you with the villains? You idiot."
The tone of his voice is harsh, but the look in his eye says something different. Genuine feelings of worry and relief were written all over his face.
"You're the one who pushed us away as well! I need to tell you off for that you big idiot!" Bakugou remembers when I pushed everyone away from following me.
I laugh awkwardly and hear the crowds gasps and turn towards the TV. Bakugou continues
Watching the big screen TV in front of me, I watch All Might get beaten down multiple times and turn into a smaller skinny version of himself. His wounds make me upset, but I don't want him to lose. I want him to win! I watch the other heroes rescue the injured. The camera pans over to Best Jeanist and my tears don't stop flowing.
My mentor. Best Jeanist. He's in such a sorry state because of me. It's all my fault isn't it?
"GO ALL MIGHT!" I shout with all of my might and force; tears flowing from my face as I cheer on the number one hero.
Everyone cheers him on constantly; our voice resounding around the city and into his heart. We continue to scream for his victory until he gives One for All one last punch that is so strong he creates a tornado from the impact itself. The TV reveals All Might raising his arm in his buff state and we all break down into tears together from the sight of his victory. He stands proudly in a victory pose, raising his arm proudly into the air.
As All Might's battle finishes, the group decides to bring me to Pro Heroes
I watch All Might point into the camera and say softly, "Next, it's your turn."
Even though everyone deemed it as a statement to other criminals, I found the statement itself painful, like it was going to be his last time to fight.
Even after all of that, Dabi's words still rang into my ears after finding out about Harlon's death.
Despite myself having a full plan for the future, I was unsure what my next step will be.
I quietly went to the police after being brought there by the group, not saying anything as I thought about what happened. All Might's final battle and Harlon's death.
It was truly all confusing on what I should do.
For the first time, I don't know how I should continue with these troubles.
It all seemed so...
Unsettling.
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Next Chapter: Hero