Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 34

When first one, then two minutes passed in silence that no longer felt quite comfortable, I almost felt the urge to take my question back. I didn't even know why I asked him that. I had more important things that I needed to find out, but here I was again, letting my selfishness get the better of me and asking stupid things that wouldn't do anything but satisfy my own curiosity. I'd been leaning on the railing with my back turned to Dabi, but suddenly, I didn't feel as safe as I did before with exposing a weak spot like that. The tense quiet seemed to stretch forever, and I curled inwards a little - I should've known a question like that was bound to strike a nerve.

"Sorry," I stammered, deciding enough was enough and that I shouldn't force him to go through whatever it was again. "You, uh, you don't need to answer that. I shouldn't have asked."

Surprisingly enough, Dabi reacted calmer than I thought he would, especially since I'd been expecting a wave of blue fire to already consume me by now. Ever since I asked the question, I hadn't dared look at him for fear that it would just irritate him even more, but now that I finally gathered the courage to do so, I noticed he almost looked tranquil. "No need to apologize. A question's a question, and it wouldn't exactly be fair if I didn't answer, would it?"

I smiled in relief and nodded. If I needed to, I would've probably been able to hold out for long enough for the commotion of a fight to bring back-up, or with some luck, maybe I'd even be able to beat him, but I was still glad to avoid a pointless fight, especially with an opponent as strong as Dabi. I wasn't too keen on getting burned half to death again, so I probably shouldn't have pushed the question on him, but at least now I knew that Dabi also valued fairness. I smiled slightly to myself. Dabi kept revealing the smallest of things about himself that, if needed, I'd be able to use against him, and he didn't even seem to realize it. A few more moments passed in silence.

"I had a few people I was close with." The words seemed to weigh a ton each, and Dabi struggled to force them out. "I was pretty happy with them, but I guess they weren't with me. They ended up leaving me behind when I turned out to be useless to them."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "You? Useless? With all due respect to them, you burned down half a neighborhood with your quirk and were barely even tired from it. That barely seems useless to me."

"Yeah, well, either way, it wasn't what they wanted," Dabi huffed and turned away from the railing, instead going to the small room sticking up from the roof that was used for maintenance and leaned his back against it, sliding down to sit against the wall. He patted the spot beside him, and I reluctantly sat down, mildly aware of how the dagger that I hid in my waistband beneath the flannel was now pressing against my ribs a little uncomfortably. If I needed to fight from this position, it wouldn't be the most convenient, but I'd manage, and standing while Dabi sat felt too awkward. "I guess a quirk like mine wasn't exactly what they had in mind for me."

"Please," I scoffed, "spare me the bullshit. Your quirk is anything but useless. You're already a harsh opponent to fight, and if you'd been trained the same way I was, you'd be even stronger. Hell, you could probably even be stronger than Endeavor with time." Dabi visibly flinched beside me, tensing up when I said the pro hero's name.  "What, don't tell me the oh-so-powerful villain Dabi that managed to slip out from right under our noses several times now is afraid of a hero?"

I'd been expecting another snarky remark in return, but all I got was a cold stare that was somewhere between begging and threatening me to shut up with it. So he's got a hard spot when it comes to Endeavor. I wonder why? He seemed fine when dealing with all the other heroes, so did he have a run-in with Endeavor before? I wanted to ask him about it, but decided that it could wait - I was already on thin ice now that the comfort around us seemed to evaporate, and I felt my hand drift slightly to my side, just in case I needed to make a grab for my weapon. Part of me wanted to keep provoking him, just to see how far I could get him with just the name of a pro hero, but  I decided I didn't have a death wish just yet.

"My turn. Tell me, Kira." I shivered slightly when Dabi said my name. Maybe being called 'princess' wasn't so bad, after all. "Why haven't you tried to make any moves against me? I'm alone, and this is quite literally your home turf. You don't think I could win against you right now, do you?"

I took a moment to think before answering. "I could take you down right now if I wanted, but my goal is the League. Right now, this little agreement of ours is giving me intel on the League that I couldn't get otherwise, and so far, you haven't done anything to make me want to break it off. It's beneficial for me to keep you of jail for now. That is, unless you decide to lay a finger on Hawks. Then, I don't care how much you tell me, because I'll teach you what pain really means."

"Fair enough." Dabi seemed to relax again, and I let my arm drop slightly from where it hovered near the hilt of my dagger. Dabi threw his head back, looking up to the barely-visible stars that shone dimly in the still-lit city. It was the middle of the night, but the lights of apartments and clubs still glimmered brightly, clouding out the view of the stars, and I unknowingly mirrored Dabi's actions. "Your turn."

"I'm guessing that, since you're the one who's been meeting up with me, you were assigned to recruit me. Are there any others like you, and who are they in charge of?" There. Finally, a question that would do more than just ease my wonder and could actually prove helpful.

He took a few moments to think, as if he was trying to remember something from several years ago before finally speaking again. "Eleven others that I'm aware of, but I don't know who the villains are or who they're assigned to. Shiggy made sure that no one knew the targets except for the person who had to recruit them, just in case someone as genius as you came along."

Of course he did. I should've known. "So you're saying that only you and Shigaraki know that I'm one of the potential recruits?"

"Oh, definitely not," Dabi chirped, a little too happy about it. "The entire League is obsessed with you. It wasn't just Shiggy watching you since you graduated, you know. Sure, he was the first one who noticed you, but your bloodlust caught everyone's attention. Uh, no offense, of course."

I curled into myself a little, once again reminded of why I was stuck here in the first place - I wasn't meant to be a hero. I was still just a naïve little girl playing pretend, and although I tried to push it away, the feeling that maybe everyone was right, that maybe I was more of a villain than a hero, sunk further and further into me. Stop putting labels, I scolded myself. It doesn't matter what I am - as long as I continue punishing people who hurt others, I'm doing exactly what I wanted all along. 

"Hm. So there's eleven other potential villains that I have to worry about now, and you can't even tell me who they are. How useful," I sighed, letting the back of my head rest against the wall behind me. "It's like I'm just running in circles around you. Is there anything that you can be completely honest about without dodging the question?"

"I'll tell you that when I figure it out myself," Dabi offered, his tone so sincere that I couldn't help but scoff a little because of how ironic it seemed. He chose to ignore my reaction, instead scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of his next question for me. "Oh! I have one. Just how much does the media affect you in particular, per se?"

"What, are you planning on exploiting me so that I have nowhere to go but the League?" I scorned. "Never mind, forget that. I don't want you getting any ideas. The media affects me enough."

"That isn't even a proper answer!"

"Yeah, well, now you know how I feel."

Minutes flew by as we both did our best to get information out of each other, although it was awfully hard, what with how much we dodged the answers, but somehow, the wavering balance of wanting to punch him and to comfort him at the same time grew on me in the short our that we had. Still, as soon as the clock struck three in the morning, Dabi said his goodbyes, and before I knew it, he was gone again.