5 Fingers

Fireworks

After putting his baby in the bath for a nice soak, Shiggy stared at his reflection in the mirror. Even in the dim light, he looked so much younger. His features were almost normal.  The semi short time he had spent in her had transformed him back partly to his former self. In the wrong hands, this would be a deadly discovery.  Would this happen every time? Does her virginity grow back?  A million questions raced through his head as he felt his smooth skin again. He heard his lieutenant calling his name.  How does he explain this to them? Even he wasn't sure how it worked.  Her humming in the bath brought him back to reality.  He couldn't let her fall in the wrong hands. Even if his own were bloodied from bad choices, there's so much worse out there than him. It was there and then that he made the decision to never let anyone near her.  Even if it killed him. Washing his face and hands carefully,  he threw on a shirt and walked out into the common area surrounded by drunken LOV members. 

In the bath, Phoenix couldn't really make out the conversations in the room next door.  The music was loud enough she was positive a passerby could hear. Her abdomen had stopped hurting within minutes of them stopping, but he had insisted she relax and enjoy the bath. While it wasn't exactly a five star hotel bathroom, she was content. He had purposely bought her some nail polish and she was doing her best to paint her nails. Unfortunately,  with no prior practice, she was making a mess. She sipped the little glass of coke he had brought her. She shouldn't be okay with how he acquired it but... oh well. It was sweet and cold. Perfect beside a warm bath. She too had her quirk in her mind. She knew any damage activated it, however she didn't expect it to heal him without repercussions to herself. Thinking to herself, she was met with flash backs from the laboratory.  Ordinarily she would shake them off, choosing to forget rather remember.  But this time, she focused on details. She was often hit with IVs and injections. The wounds would close when they exited her body, but she would be in a constant healing limbo so to speak when they remained inside.  So was it her skin or blood or a bit of both that allowed her to heal so quickly? She needed to test it. And there was certainly one person she knew who would willingly try it for her. 
Stepping out of the bath, she grabbed some comfortable clothes, getting dressed before joining her new friends.

After a long night of partying into the next day, things at the hideout were calming down. Most everyone had cleared out except for a few stragglers and the ones who lived there. Phoenix had passed out on Shiggy's shoulder mid poker game. Not that he minded. It pleased him she was so comfortable there.  He was trashed beyond belief though. He didn't think he had the strength to carry her and not drop her. But he hated to wake her. Dabi watched his boss be gentle for the first time. The relationship intrigued him. She hadn't tried to change him. And yet, he was different. The freaking body changes were startling more than anything. He had walked out and everyone panicked for a second.  They knew she could heal. But the extent, that was something else. He wondered if she could fix his scars, but immediately shrugged it off. He didn't want them fixed. He didn't need the reminder of where he came from. He watched Shiggy kiss her awake. The way she looked at him almost made Dabi jealous. But he was happy to see his friend have something good in his life for once. Shiggy waved a good night to him as they leaned on each other walking to the bedroom.  A soft smile found it's way to his cheeks before he stretched and headed to bed himself.

In the middle of the long evening/night of sleep, he was awakened to soft sobs and a wet pillow. "Baby?" His voice barely above a whisper. Her face glistened in the soft glow of the single bulb above them.  Leaning over her, he tried to shake her gently awake but to his horror, her whimpers grew louder, as her wings grew behind her shaking body. "Please...no more.... ," her voice was begging and insistent even in the whispers of sleep. She clutched one arm digging into her skin as if something was  inside. Writhing under the sheets, her chest was heaving. Sweat poured from her long hair making it stick to her face and neck. He tried desperately to wake her but the more he touched her, the louder she screamed. Between screams and sobs, she murmured words. "Daddy no please. Don't.... it hurts." Her legs curled into a fetal position as she gasped for breath at the phantom pains she was feeling. Her whimpers had him wiping his face. Then the choking sounds. She was...suffocating in front of him. Desperate to help he pulled her against his warm skin. "Phoenix wake up. Come on baby wake up..."
Her eyes shot open and she found herself buried in his chest absolutely panicking. "I'm so so sorry. I'm sorry. I can't help it."
"No no baby. It's okay. I'm here. It's just a bad dream." His hand smoothed her hair  while the other held her tight and rocked her. 
Her breathing became more steady and even. Her nose was stopped up from crying and her face swollen. Once he was sure she could sit on her own, he grabbed her a drink from the mini fridge in his room, opening it for her. "Wanna talk about it baby? Tell me what happened."
The fear in her eyes made his stomach lurch. Whatever happened wasn't just a dream. She was seeing her past.
"We said no secrets so... I'll tell you. But please don't think less of me for it."
"Never. You know my past. I owe you the same understanding."
She nodded sipping her drink before continuing.  "You know the man I called Father? He... he wasn't my dad. Just the man who stole me from my mother as an infant."
Shiggy nodded taking her free hand. "It's okay. Talk to me."

The stories of her being used as a lab rat had him on edge. She told him of how they took blood daily to test and even injected her with so many serums, she didn't even know what half of them were for. She mentioned AFO and his blood ran cold. How they tried to "give her quirks" from different sources. Now matter what it did, due to her quirk, she survived. Her body took the poison, even the darker liquids they poured into her veins, and the pain was unbearable.  That was enough to piss him off. Then she said a name that had him seething. Chisaki.  He was her betrothed in some back door deal between their company and AFO. Only she wasn't old enough yet. Keeping himself as calm as possible, he kept listening all the while murder on his mind. Then.... the abuse. She was a virgin the night they first made love. Which was beautiful in its own right. However, learning where she had been subjected to sexual whimsy of her "father" was more than he could bear. She noticed his raging eyes and tried to calm him with her hand on his face. For now he would play it cool. For her.  Her descriptions of the things he made her do  scorched what was left of his sanity.
But her confession,  left him speechless at its sincerity.
"I'm not a hero. I don't deserve to be in the UA. They don't know what I've done. The man I called father is dead. And I.... am responsible."

"What happened baby?" He hugged her tightly trying to fathom what she could mean.
"I killed him."
He was so shocked he nearly dropped her.
"How?"

She took a deep breath. "I can not control my fire quirk. You know that."
He nodded waiting for her to continue.
"I... was angry one night. So angry. I was... in the lava room.... it's essentially a meeting room with a wall of lava as a decoration."
Kinda cool
"Okay baby. So how did you kill him?"
She trembled at his words making him squeeze tighter. "I was so angry. They had decided that I was a weapon. And.... I don't know. I raged until... I...put my hands on the glass. Begging it to break. But... it didn't give. So I fell apart... and I... remember exploding..."
"Exploding?"
"Not like Bakugou.  But with fire and rage and anger. It shot out of me with such force I was blown backwards. But when I came to... I was laying on the floor and the glass was broken. A stream of lava was flowing through the room."

She looked up at him. "Lava is slow, it eats its way through things. Like a lake of fire." She looked away before grabbing the pillow beside her. "Anyway,  everything was catching fire. And... I couldn't make myself move.  I watched it cut through the floor and the double doors.... and then I walked to it. I stood in the fire feeling it surge into me. I've never felt so much power. I walked to the the door, pushed in the maintenance codes to shut off the alarms...." Her voice trailed off momentarily as she gathered herself. "I let it burn. The entire facility.  I blew up the only exit left. Made it inescapable.  Everyone was asleep save the guards. But it took nothing to knock them unconscious. I listened as screams and cries of terror filled the hallways. I couldn't... I couldn't take it and hid in the  basement underneath the maintenance table."

He listened in stunned silence. "How did you survive?"
Her laugh shook him like a jump scare.
"I'm immune to fire. And I stayed in that basement until All Might found me 3 days later." Her weight shifted having gotten that off her chest. "And I'm not sorry at all.  They deserved it. All of them. I'm only sorry I didn't know to do it sooner. I could have saved so many."
He kissed her. There was no warning as he plunged into her lips as if she was the very air he was trying to breath. She responded with those sweet low moans he loved. But sex wasn't on his mind right now. "You are my hero. You did it for the right reasons." She choked up in a mix of emotions. "You think I'm still good?"
"God yes. You are still a good person. Your conscience is clear." Rocking her back and forth, he couldn't believe he was so lucky. After a good night kiss and tucking her back in for some more sleep, he walked out of the room. Closing the door gently behind and between gritted teeth he growled, "But I'm not baby." The red in his eyes brighter than it ever had been.