Apotheosis

CHAPTER 28: DRAGON

There were times when Dabi looked in the mirror he sometimes tried to remember what he originally looked like. It was at those times when he thought hard, he could see past the black hair, stitches and burned patches of skin and see that red haired boy from long ago. On bad days he would sneer at that weak pathetic boy. On really bad days he would breathe a sigh of sadness for just a moment.

'Touya Todoroki', that was his name once upon a time. Born with an exceptionally powerful fire quirk, potentially stronger than his father's, so he was told. Before his youngest brother developed his dual quirk Touya was dad's favorite. Favorite, how Dabi hated that title. In a normal family maybe the favorite son would get special treatment, food and gifts. In the Todoroki household being the favorite meant strict training from dear old dad, violence, pressure, verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Mom couldn't do anything or she too would feel his wrath. He was just a kid, yet whenever he failed to live up to dad's expectations he was called weak and useless. As if Endeavor had the right to mock weakness when he couldn't even surpass Allmight.

Touya finally couldn't take it anymore. He wanted out one way or another. One night he finally decided to just end it all. Leaving a note for his siblings to find he snuck out of the house. A young child of twelve wandered the city streets in the dead of night, looking for the best place to die and be free from this burden. He found it in the form of a bridge. Staring down into the dark water of the canal Touya found that he couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't that he didn't want to die, but he wanted to live to see his father's reputation ruined. That's when an idea popped into his head. He knew his suicide would warrant some form of investigation. They would look into the number two hero's home life. They would find out what he did and still does to his wife and children. They would plaster it everywhere. Everyone would know the truth. His rank would plummet and Touya would have his well-deserved justice.

Making up his mind, the young red headed boy took off his shirt and shoes and tossed them over the bridge into the river. The police would need to find something to confirm that he did indeed jump. Touya then vanished into the seedier parts of the city, stealing a cap and hoody to hide himself and simply waited for the fireworks to begin. Perhaps when Endeavor's career was in ashes he would come out of hiding just to laugh and reveal that he was the architect of his ultimate humiliation.

A few days passed, yet none of the things he imagined happened. Instead his death was labeled as a tragic accident. His twelve year old mind had gravely miscalculated just how corrupt Endeavor really was and what he would do to keep his reputation safe. Sinking so low as to not even report his own son was missing but dead. What happened to the note he left for his siblings? Why didn't they go public with it or tell mom? Did their father force them all to silence? He certainly had the power and pull to do something like that. Touya just couldn't believe that there wasn't a shred of honor or humanity in that man, to do this to his own family. Treating his own son like a disposable toothbrush to throw in the trash and replace.

Time passed and a funeral was held. The boy read all about it from a stolen newspaper. People actually consoled that bastard for the loss of his first born son. Even Allmight showed up and offered his sympathy. Not a single person save for his family knew the truth and no one ever would.

It was then that Touya learned that there was no justice in the world. If someone who everyone praised as such a great hero could get away with this then what was a hero anyway? True heroes didn't abuse their family and worse, not feel a shred of remorse or guilt. That man was a fraud and there was nothing the red head could about it. He couldn't go back now. There was no telling what Endeavor would do to him if it turned out he was alive. He might kill his son himself for real, just to cover his own lies.

Hiding out he spent most of his time doing odd jobs for local drug dealers and scum bags in the darker parts of the city. He lived in an abandoned train yard, using an old rusted caboose as a makeshift home. After about a year of this he could finally afford to change his identity. He heard that there was a guy who possessed a quirk that could alter a person's appearance and he did so for untraceable cash. He worked out of back alley surgery room in a moldy building. Touya saved up enough from his jobs to afford the hair color change at least. When he went back months later with more money the place was gone. He had heard that some underground hero named Erasure Head arrested the man with appearance altering quirk and shut his whole business down. With no other option the now sixteen year old Touya had to do the rest himself. The pain was excruciating. Using his own quirk he burned parts of skin, going a little too far at times, but the damage was done. The older he got the more he resembled that man and he hated it, so of course he wanted all likeness and similar traits obliterated. It would be a few years later that he would get metal piercings that resembled staples.