A Fun Walk Down Memory Lane (My Hero Academia)

Part 2

Hawks didn't know what to expect, but the next three memories came in rapid succession, like a timelapse, or cutting to the important parts.

Touya had started to kill animals. He set birds and squirrels on fire, he smashed bird eggs, fighting off the angry mama bird. Dabi did not look proud of this, he had a stern face on, no emotion. Touya was a great actor. Around Natsuo and Fuyumi, he was the supportive big brother, while he was a disaster by himself.

Rei locked herself in her room most of the time, giving up on her children, leaving them to fend for themselves. No, for Fuymui and Natsuo to depend on Touya, who had nobody to defend him or take care of him. He was only nine. "You were good at hiding the... issues."

"You can call me crazy, I won't get offended. I was obsessed with it, and it only got worse when Shoto was born. Obsession runs through the family, unfortunately," Dabi said. His face was stoick, his bout of unhinged laughter gone. He did have a sick smile on when he saw Touya kill the cat that jumped into their yard. "Told you sweet Touya's gone."

And it seemed true. Touya didn't act like the sweet kid anymore. Hawks would assume he had some sort of disposition and the situation and circumstances brought out the worst. But at least Touya wasn't harming himself or his family. Hawks felt sorry about the animals, but they were animals. Touya didn't hurt or kill people.

Though one of the major warning signs for psychopaths was killing or torturing animals. And there was no parent to notice the signs and help him before he spiraled. God, he was only nine and looked and acted much older.

But, he didn't stop trying to train with his quirk. He had more burns, but covered them with clothes strategically placed to hide them. Endeavor didn't pay attention, didn't notice. And Rei was trying to deal with her own issues.

There was a memory where Touya had a hammer in his hand, standing outside of Rei's bedroom, where she was inside. He did nothing with it, but it was creepy, standing there with a hammer just loosely clutched in his hand. Touya's eyes were distant and hazy. Then he left, tears coming down his face.

Through this change, Touya continued to cry often. If angry, he cried. If sad, he cried. And his fire was still orange, not the brilliant, beautiful blue. But still, Endeavor ignored him. Rei ignored him, Fuyumi and Natsuo grew up close and not hindered or damaged directly by Endeavor, though Natsuo was hurt he was ignored, barely even considered. Endeavor never even looked at him.

"Did you hurt a human?" Hawks asked.

"No. Not yet, at least. Well, Touya didn't succeed in hurting other people," Dabi corrected. Hawks was very sad to watch the sweet boy spiral into a pre-Dabi state, twisted but not quite too far gone. And even if he looked and acted crazed sometimes, usually in episodes where everyone was distracted or asleep and he was left alone, he was still hurting inside.

If it were a story, Touya was a far more interesting character than Keigo had been.

The memory changed to the day Rei gave birth to Shoto. Touya wasn't there to give support, seeming to not want another sibling to take care of. But he did go see when Fuyumi went to his room and asked. "Okay, fine," Touya sighed, and went downstairs. It had been another home birth, with midwives there and everything.

Rei looked exhausted, and in her arms was Shoto, who had half red and half white hair. Touya looked sick by it. "Why are you all equating mixed hair for a double quirk?" Hawks asked, unable to help laughing.

"Shut up," Dabi said in irritation, though he looked embarrassed. "They were right! The hair was a precursor!" Hawks stopped laughing slowly. "Besides, you won't be laughing long."