𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝

Hushed secrets

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The gates with vines wrapped around it squeaked open. Dabi opened it little ways to only where they could fit in before quickly shutting it. Through the cracks of the vines he eyed the streets before moving away from them. The last thing he wanted was for Tomura to send one of his men to follow him. Although the thought was unlikely due to his own mission, he wanted to be sure.

Shoto and Dabi then stood in the dark, only the sunlight that barely peeked in shined the fronts of the gate. Shoto's mismatched eyes peered around as he realized they stood in an apartment building, "I don't think I've seen a small apartment building."

Dabi marched forward towards the stairs that faced the opposite way, "It's only four homes with one bedroom. Probably designed for lonely people."

"It's kind of cramped." Shoto uttered as he walked through the narrow passageway, "What's even here?"

The concrete stairs wobbled underneath their steps. They were surely to give up any day as cracks and a few corners had been chipped. It seemed like the building had been run down before the apocalypse as vines had punctured their way into the homes, a few windows were shattered and pieces of the roof's rubble layed on the floor.

They headed to the room that was placed in the back. The busted door softly squeaked as Dabi opened it, "Everything that the bastard wants is in here. Everything that I'm going to tell you is in here. It's really not much, but it is something that you can use."

Despite the outside looking terrible, the inside looked clean. As clean as a run down building could be. Dabi had to be here for some time as they were furniture, curtains, and carpets that looked new. Along with that were items such as fake potted plants, figurines, photo frames of random people, computers, and candles decorating the home. Even fake fruits in a bowl were placed on the kitchen table and just by the small window was a fake single gentiana scabra in a vase too big.

Shoto remembered that the flower was their mothers favorite. She always had one in her room and in the living room, a bundle sitting in a vase that was made just for her. A sad memory, but Shoto was rather fond of it.

Dabi blinked at his younger brother before placing his bag on the coffee table and walking towards where the computer sat on a desk. Underneath the desk was a box of a few documents that he grabbed and walked back to the couch where he sat. Shortly after, Shoto joined.

The mismatched eyed male picked up a few papers from the box and skimmed them over. The texts were in a small format with big paragraphs, no doubt important information, "You got these from fathers office?"

Dabi shook his head, unpacking and letting the papers that he roughly shoved in his bag to fall on the table, "There his, but I got them from the place we were kept. Some of them belong to him, but some of them belong to who I'm assuming was the one in charge of keeping everyone safe. Then there's some who belong to Enji's friends. I don't know, I just grabbed whatever looked important."

The papers felt dusty and rough in Shoto's fingertips as he read it. It must be wearing down now as it has been long since they were produced, it was even turning a shade of light brown, "Wait, how did you even manage to get these? Wouldn't Tomura have searched you?"

"I went back." He responded, ignoring his brother snapping his head at him with eyes as wide as an owl, "The second I got his trust, which wasn't long, I went back to see if anything was there."

"But," Shoto looked back down, wondering if he had to see Enji, Rei, Natsuo and Fuyumi's corpses. He shook the thought, "It's a long way from here. Wouldn't Tomura have wondered where you went?"

Dabi shrugged as he sorted the papers, "He had someone to go with me. I told him some bullshit story and he believed it. Didn't find much but these and a few rations, a couple of guns too. The place was a shit storm, especially with the dead crawling everywhere."

He spared him from saying he did actually see their family's corpses. Withering away with grass and flowers growing on them. If Tomura's men weren't there, he would have prepared a burial though just for his mother, his brother and sister. Enji was nowhere seen in sight, only his shirt he last wore was there but it was lying next to a rotter with its stomach bulging.

When he didn't see Shoto it gave Dabi hope that he had managed to escape and was still alive. Month after month did Shoto cross his mind despite their strained relationship. The pure shock and heavy heart he felt when he saw his little brother standing behind the enemy's walls was real.

It was there even when he had made Shoto witness the death of his friend and teachers.

"Do you know what they talk about?" Shoto asked, setting one paper down and grabbing another, "All I keep seeing is Patient Z, virus, people who eat people, and Keigo Takami. Nothing about sanctuary."

"I never said that I knew anything about other places." He rolled his eyes, yanking the paper he held before replacing a map in his hand, "Why do you think I told you to go back to Musutafu? If someone hasn't already invaded our home, which I doubt, then all of Enji's information would be there."

"Okay, but what makes you so sure that he left all of his stuff home? What if what we were holding right now is everything our father has?" Shoto looked at him, "What then?"

Dabi glared at him, "Look at the damn map."

Shoto silently huffed, "Fine."

"Even if what we're looking at is all Enji has, there are other homes you need to go." Dabi sat back reading a document, "The map has circled towns you need to go to. It's where Enji's co-workers live. There's a Musutafu map on the table so you know which streets to take."

His eyes wandered all over the map. Then he remembered something, "Do you think I can tell this to someone?"

"No." Dabi quickly responded, crossing his arms and getting into a comfortable position, steadily closing his eyes.

"Why?" Shoto glanced at him, "If someone else were to know then things would go smoothly. From what you're saying, there's somewhere else that holds humans in a safe environment without being afraid of dying. Do you realize how important this is? How many people won't have to go to dying? The human population wouldn't go extinct."

"And who is it you possibly want to tell?" Dabi flicked an eye open to glare at him, "Your teachers? Your friends? Or that girl you're always thinking about?"

"What difference does it make?" Shoto glared at him, "I know my friends and I trust the-"

"You clearly forgot about how things work now." He continued to glare at him, "The only reason I'm telling you isn't because I trust you. As much as of an air or thick headed you are you have no reason to go about being enemies with me. You don't have a mindset like I or people like Tomura do. You can't trust even if you think you do."

He closed his eyes once more, "Now read the damn documents and wake me up once you're done."

Shoto rolled his eyes as he glanced back down, placing the map away and grabbing a different document. It's true that Shoto doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Dabi doesn't trust him? Now that's something Shoto thinks is a big fat lie. Anything that comes out of Dabi's mouth, regarding Shoto will always be a lie.

It's clear Dabi doesn't know him like before, because once he gets back to Sorston, with or without his brother, the first person he'd say anything to is the one in charge of the community; Nezu. The small yet sharp male knew things and would always be one step ahead. He'd be the best one to speak this to.

Then, he'd go to F/n. Not just because of the feelings he had for her, but because she mentioned something about ships. Something he dismissed and thought of as silly. Either way, if it meant that humanity could be restored then he wasn't going to keep quiet. It may seem like Dabi's only speaking of this to anger Tomura, but deep down in his dark plague heart, he only wanted his little brother safe.