"Tamaki..? Eijiro..?"

A surge of fear coursed through me as I stared at the two boys, but not just fear. No, my anger was skyrocketing when I saw my young friend being pinned to the floor.
"(Y/N), are you alright?!" Kirishima asked in rushed concern, his knee twisting downward as Mustard tried to squirm free. "We were coming to see if you were going to Fat's today, and saw this bastard going through your kitchen!"

It was then that I had noticed Mustard's helmet, on its side a few feet away. He must have put it on after leaving the room, having always said it made him feel more comfortable. Now they knew exactly who he was.
"W..we thought something bad may have happened to you..." Amajiki wouldn't look me in the eye as he spoke, but if he had, he would have seen pure rage.

"Get off of him. Now." I ordered in a low hiss, barely managing to keep my quirk from taking control. Neither of the boys moved, looking at me as though I had started yodelling pop lyrics.
"H..hah?! No way! You know who this guy is, right?! He escaped from Tartarus guards! He gassed the summer camp!" Kirishima explained, his arms hardening as Mustard pushed up again.
"A..ahck..! You're h..hurting me..!"

I'll kill them.

Taking a large step forward, I willed a pair of tigris ears to appear upon my head, a swaying, striped tail snaking out from behind me.
"I told you to get off of him..." My voice came out in such a deep growl that it caused my throat to hurt, but I didn't let up. If he didn't do what I told him to, then I'd have no choice but to make him do it.

Completely and utterly taken aback, Kirishima cautiously stood up, backing away when I rushed forward, pulling Mustard up to a seated position.
"I just...w..wanted some th..thin mints..." He spluttered, his voice a much higher pitch than usual. He was terrified, and I was not about to let that slide.
"Why is he in your house, (Y/N)..?" The scent of raw seafood stung at my nose, and I looked up to see Amajiki with his quirk activated, long tentacles spewing from five of his fingers, ready to act.

You fucking know...Why ask when you know..?

Before saying anything, I glanced behind me, realising that Dabi hadn't made himself known to the duo. Part of me was relieved by that, but the other half was frustrated.
"Come on, Hiso..." I forced my voice to become more gentle as I helped the younger teen to a stand, feeling severe sympathetic pain as he reached around to rub at his back, which would surely bruise. "Stand behind me, okay, hun?"

"Why aren't you answering us..? What's gotten into you?! He's a criminal!" Kirishima was freaking out now, and I eyed his hardened fists, wondering just how much longer it would take until he chose to use them.

I'm stalling...This is when you finally find out...Of course I'd stall...

Once I made sure Mustard was behind me, I turned my attention back to them, lip curling back in threat.
"You two do need to leave..." I said in all seriousness, arms out to the sides in a protective stance. "I'm warning you...I don't want to fight you guys..."

Oh, but I did. I really, really wanted to fight them. Tear them limb from limb for hurting my friend. I knew my limitations, though, and I knew when I was no match. I didn't stand a chance in hell against their quirks, and I knew they were aware of that too. I had to get them to leave.

"We aren't leaving without you!" Kirishima announced, his hardening seeming to creep higher along his body. "What's wrong?! Are there others here?! Do they have you hostage?!" There was something straining inside my chest as he spoke so urgently, but my mind couldn't quite connect it to anything. I knew them both well, that wasn't something I had forgotten, but I just couldn't understand why I was hesitating. Kirishima had hurt someone I loved, and that was enough to kill for...but I didn't truly want to do that.

"Y..you're asking too many questions..." I muttered, fists clenching so that my unsheathed nails; courtesy of my quirk, cut into the flesh of my palm. "Don't touch him...and get the fuck out of my house..!" The last part of my sentence tore through the room, and they flinched. Even Mustard flinched from behind me.
"(Y/N)..." The boy whispered, leaning into my back cautiously. "...don't...Just pre..pretend we've taken you hostage..."

Never. I'm not failing you again. I've made my choice. For real, this time...

I could never have had both. That thought ate away at my sanity as I stood there, staring into eyes of crimson and violet. I had never really been that great of a hero, despite all of my hard work. Forgetting the images of those burning bodies in that warehouse was impossible. The little girl I had no chance at saving. But now there was a boy behind me who was within my reach, and if keeping him safe meant I had to convert completely, then that was just what I was going to do.

"Seriously...all you have to do is walk over to us, (Y/N)..." Kirishima evened out his voice, extending a hand and letting the skin of it return to normal. "Just walk over to me and take my hand...and It'll all be okay..." I took a step, but in the opposite direction, pushing Mustard back along with me.
"Okay..? Do you really think that what you're doing is okay..?!" My quirk felt like it was trying to swallow me whole, patches of my skin beginning to itch and sprout fur of black, orange and white as I kept it at bay. "Do you have any idea what Hisoka has gone through?! Do you understand how this society has hurt them, all because of people like us?! Like you?!"

No...I'm not like that anymore...Was I ever like that?

"You smashed into my house all because you assumed he was up to no good!" As soon as the heroic pair began to sidestep, I copied, making sure Mustard was directly behind me at all times.
"He tried to kill us! He shot at Tetsutetsu and Kendo! He is bad, (Y/N)! What's the matter with you?!" Whilst Kirishima spoke, Amajiki remained completely silent, a look of pure pain across his face. The face I used to pinch and squish as I giggled whilst we worked.

"He's a fucking kid, Kirishima!" I snapped, my (E/C) eyes locked on the two of them. "I'm giving you one last chance...Get the fuck out of my house. If you don't, then I'll take that as my cue to take you both down..." We were all circling each other, the room thick with fear and confusion, but they didn't back down. I never thought they would, but I wished it had been the case.

"Kirishima...call Fat..." Amajiki instructed the red-head calmly, swallowing back his nerves like a big bite of food. It never should have come to it, but the moment I saw Kirishima make the move for his phone, I lunged. What shocked me was that he didn't enhance his quirk, he just let me tackle him into the far kitchen cabinet, but he did make a grab for my arm. I was lucky enough to have improved upon my reflexes, and I jumped away before he could grasp me.

Mustard had scrambled over to his helmet, clutching it close to his chest as he watched me snarl and growl like a rabid animal, more than prepared to engage in an all out brawl if it came to it.
"I don't wanna do this!" I yelled, feeling the backs of my eyes sting and prickle with mismatched upset and anger. "You both have to leave! Now! I'm d..done with this! I'll kill you both if you don't get the fuck away from us!"

I think I actually could...Tomura would approve, wouldn't he..? Does that matter?

"I ain't budging until he's down and you're safe!" Kirishima clashed his rocky fists together, a single spark flying into the air and dissipating, just like my control. "Whatever they've done to your head, we can fix it! I'll drag you away if I have to!" I was ready for him as he came towards us, but I wasn't ready for the world to become much darker, and bathed in red. Mustard had smashed his helmet down over my head and face, shoving me to the side and out of Kirishima's reach. I heard the sound of stone connecting with flesh, and my rage meter burst past its limits.

Blood drizzled down from the clean split in Mustard's eyebrow, his right eye closed tight and already swelling from the impact. Tears rushed down from both, and the way his body shook was the final straw. Before I activated my quirk, I could see the odd coloured gas beginning to seep from his body, and I knew that meant that nothing from there on in could be taken back.

Because I had been wearing Mustard's helmet prior to transforming, I could breathe relatively well, without having to worry about the poison quickly filling the room. Even for a couple of heroes, a fully grown Siberian tiger was a challenge, and I could see the alarm in Kirishima's eyes as I went at him first. It was like jumping into a boulder, and not entirely painless on my end, but I at least managed to knock him back into the wall. He wasn't fighting back, his arms remaining criss-crossed in front of him, and it pissed me off.

Fight me, you asshole! Don't pretend to be a fucking saint! Please!

Without much hesitation, I pushed away from him, instead taking aim at Amajiki, who was already trying to take hold of Mustard with his octapodian fingers. The boy edged away, a hand clasped over his mouth and nose so he wouldn't inhale his own toxins, and I kicked myself into overdrive. He could only hold his breath for so long, so if I continued to switch between the two heroes in training, they would take more breaths, meaning we could finish this much quicker.

"I'm not fighting you, (Y/N)!" Amajiki declared firmly as I latched onto his slimy appendages, internally gagging at the taste of them. "You know I won't, so please...please just give it up!" My mind was in a screaming match with my heart, but neither of them knew what they wanted. I loved Amajiki and Kirishima dearly, but I had left them behind in the hero world. I needed to look after my own, now. The ones who needed me more.

Back and forth, I grew increasingly more enraged, but part of it was directed at myself. It had been my fault it had all come to this. Every single decision I had made in the months leading up to this moment had made this inevitable, but it didn't hurt any less. Even my scrambled mind knew things were beyond repair.

JUST GO DOWN AND STAY DOWN! DON'T MAKE ME HAVE TO KILL YOU!

The coughing began rather quickly, and I could feel each of them growing weaker every time I respectively took each of them on, though the gas was thinning, which meant Mustard wasn't fairing too well, either. I had to end things fast, and there was only one way I knew how. My last resort. Stepping back from my relentless assault, I deactivated my quirk, backing towards Mustard, taking a deep breath and placing his helmet over his paling face.

"Yo..you can stop now...No more..." I whispered, and he shuddered quietly, the thick smog beginning to perish from the room. Kirishima and Amajiki looked ready to collapse, and I didn't spare them a glance, knowing it would hurt that much more, especially after what I was about to do.

We don't have a choice...

"DABI!" I called the man's name louder than I ever had, grabbing the teenaged villain and helping him to stand up. "I KNOW YOU'RE STILL HERE, DAMMIT!" Seeing the looks on their faces had been an accident, but it didn't hurt how I thought it would. It hurt much, much more. Kirishima's eyes grew buggy as the cremation criminal walked silently into the kitchen, and Amajiki looked about ready to keel over.

Dabi looked at them without a single shred of pity, but his expression changed when he turned to me, igniting his left side with a burst of blinding cerulean.
"Get out of here, Tenderfoot. I'll deal with them." He assured me, pulling the phone from his pocket and walking over to me, holding it out.
"W..why is he here..? Why is th..this guy here, (Y/N)?!" Kirishima's rasping question twisted my cuts into knots, but I ignored him. Instead, I chose to prove to them that I had no intention of returning to their side.

"Make sure they don't cause us any more trouble..." My voice remained clear and flat as I leant in, giving the man a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth. I couldn't help but give one final look to the two heroes in training, who were already struggling to stay conscious thanks to Mustard's gas. Kirishima was on his knees, and Amajiki leaned against the refrigerator, but both had the same, agonized expression on their faces.

"(Y..Y/N)...Why..?" The first year was the only one who found his voice, and he looked completely heartbroken. What made it worse was that I didn't feel like I cared as much as I should have. I began to lead my sickly brunet out of the room, stopping to give the pair my attention one final time.
"What? Don't tell me you fell in love with me too?" I curled my lip back in disgust, watching what little colour remained in Kirishima's face disappear, and hearing Amajiki whimper quietly. "Tch...Pathetic."

Once we were out of the room and up the stairs, I placed the phone down on the hallway table, resting Mustard against the wall and beginning to inspect his wounds. His eyebrow would definitely need stitches, and his right eye was already swollen shut. Apart from that, he seemed to only be scuffed, but it was still the most horrible thing in the world to see. Especially since he was rattling with sobs.

"I..it's all my fa..fault...Your whole..whole life is ruined..." He whispered, his voice hoarse and scratchy. "...Why is it always m..me...who messes your life up..?" Refusing to hear any more of it, I pulled him into my arms, carefully trying not to squeeze him too hard.
"Baby, baby no...No no no, don't you dare think that..! Nothing's ruined..! Please don't cry, Hiso..!" I sure seemed to have a lot of maternal instinct for somebody who had no biological children, but it just felt like my job to soothe him, and make sure he was safe.

Using one arm, he clung to me tightly, the other hanging limp by his side, holding onto his helmet.
"But...it's tru..true..! Why did you do that for me..?! If you weren't u..upset about it, then why are you crying too..?!" He was almost hiccuping now, and I could feel his body struggling to stay upright. He wasn't immune to his own quirk, after all, and he had surely inhaled some of his gas.

I'm not sure why...but it was the right choice...I don't belong to them anymore...I belong to Tomura...and all of you...

Ignoring my own tears and hushing him gently, I picked the phone up from the table, keeping my back turned to the staircase, where I could hear all sorts of mayhem floating up from the kitchen. Pressing the button the doctor had told us to, I quickly threw it back onto the table for Dabi's later use, squeezing my (E/C) eyes shut as I felt that disgusting bubbling sensation climbing up my throat.

Tamaki...Eijiro...You should've left when I gave you the chance...

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***DABI POV***

Again, my fist slammed into flesh, and the pixie-eared hero smashed back into the cabinets, gasping for air. Their quirks were useless now, thanks to the brat's poison, so they were easy targets.

The toothy red-head had more spunk than the tentacle bastard, but he could still barely get off of his knees. Stony skin seemed to fade into hard plastic each time I turned to hit him, but he wasn't going down.
"Give it up, spike." I sighed, my eyes rolling as I kicked my leg out, striking him square in the chin. "She's just not that into you."

Blood spurted from Kirishima's mouth as he spat, using his barely-hardened arms to push himself back to a kneeling position, jagged teeth bared as though he could intimidate me.
"What...did you do to her...you sick bastard..?!" He was channeling all of his anger now, but he could only get it to reach his voice. I could do whatever I wanted to either of them, and likely wouldn't suffer so much as a scratch.

I grabbed the scruff of his shirt, pulling him up closer to my level with little effort.
"You're repetitive, and I find that pretty fucking annoying." I muttered, noting that his legs had stopped functioning altogether. It was only a matter of time before he passed out. "She met us, she liked us, and that's the whole story. More than you need to know, really."

I've waited for this moment ever since I saw you leaning towards her...

"Bullshit..! She's not like you..! She would never...associate with people like you..!" The boy spat, trying his hardest to shoot daggers through his glare, but he honestly just looked like a sickly puppy dog. "Y..you're controlling her somehow! She wouldn't have...If she was herself she wouldn't have-"

My patience had been tested long enough, and I felt the familiar sting as my quirk activated on its own, flaring cerulean against the side of my face.
"She wouldn't have what, hero?" I snarled, dragging him closer to the unforgiving heat. "She wouldn't have kissed someone who looks like me?!"

I knew that wasn't entirely what he meant, but I was too pissed off to try to look into any other reasons. The stupid little shit who had been seen through the window didn't matter to me, but the fact that the assault on him had upset (Y/N) so badly meant everything.

"R..Riot...Don't..." The barely-conscious Amajiki croaked out, warning his companion to just shut up, but the kid was stubborn.
"No matter what...you do to us...we'll save her...You can't have her..! She belongs with the people...who care about her..! Not a b..bunch of villains..!" Even I knew he was right. She didn't belong on our side of the tracks. (Y/N) deserved to live in the light, surrounded by happiness and luck, not huddled in the shadows with the rest of us degenerates. She was good, and we just...weren't.

I don't want to hear this anymore..!

My flames grew, but I didn't set them loose. Instead, I dropped the boy onto the linoleum, lifting my boot and pressing it hard against his torso, which remained as soft as regular flesh.
"That isn't something a brat like you gets to decide." My full weight coming down upon his ribs, with a decent amount of force behind it, did the trick. The crack made my pulse quicken, and the look of sheer agony just added to that thrill. "Do you really think that she'd run back to the two of you shit stains after you hurt her precious little guy? I guarantee she'd tear you to shreds if she ever laid eyes on you again after that."

"I wouldn't...care...so much...if you hadn't...dr..dragged her...into...your business..." I turned to see the ravonet, staring at me from where he was slumped over, barely managing to keep his head up. "If you cared..cared half as much...as we do...you wouldn't...have...let...her...jo-" Adrenaline coursed through my system as I pinned his shoulder back with my boot, reaching down to grab his arm and wasting no time in jerking it into an angle that was so painfully unnatural that even I would have flinched on a regular day.

"You don't get to FUCKING TALK!" My volume rose with my agitation, and I let the now-unconscious hero fall flat on the ground, breath ragged. Immediately, I spun around, marching straight over to the younger one, who was trying to drag himself across the floor to his phone, which had flown out during the chaos beforehand. Another crunch echoed through the kitchen as I stepped down on his wrist, rolling it around for good measure. "Oh, I can't have you inviting anybody else, hero. This is a private party."

"Wh..what are you gonna d..do..? Kill me..?" Kirishima gritted his teeth, struggling weakly to free himself from my weight. That was the plan. I could torch the entire place to the ground in the blink of an eye, if I so desired.

"Please don't hurt Kiri..."

(Y/N)'s voice swam through my head, and as it did, my flames began to die out, eventually becoming nothing but dark wisps of smoke. Even with her explicit order to kill them, I knew that wasn't the real her speaking. As much as I wanted to wipe them both from the face of the earth, I knew it would only torture her down the road. If we even made it that far.
"No, I'm not gonna kill you..." I scoffed, kicking him over onto his back once I lifted my boot from his wrist, a crooked smirk breaking my face into deranged pieces.

"...I'm just gonna make you wish you were dead..."

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***The new episode boasted and praised our babies Red Riot and Suneater...so I had to go and break them. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. This had to happen as part of the storyline.

Next time: Are you as happy as I am?***