A Song to Come Home to

Chapter Thirteen

Dabi reels back from the sudden pop of the gun going off next to his ear, falling backwards against the wall. His hands instinctively reach up and presses against his ears, leaving him with a high pitched whining that rings in his ears and leaves him dizzy and nauseous. Forcing himself to open his eyes, Dabi sees the orange fire flicker and then snuff out as Endeavor collapses against the ground. Feeling a rumble that rips through the ground, Dabi wonders if a god has awakened and is forcing everyone to behold its almighty wrath.

Tearing his eyes away from Endeavor's body, he looks to the hospital. Even tucked away in an alley, Dabi can hear the groaning of building as it begins to crumble. He watches as a part of the wall that's encased in ice breaks away from the building and explodes into thousands of pieces before raining down on the panicked protesters and police below. There's another heave and a thunderous echo of metal scraping against brick leaves Dabi with the rolling waves of a migraine.

All of the chaos of the civilians screaming as the hospital gives a final massive shudder before collapsing onto itself fades to static for Dabi. When a mushrooming cloud of black smoke and glowing embers chokes out the streetlamps and obscures Endeavor from his vision, Dabi twirls around and fumbles through the ash and smoke for Shigaragki. Finding the limp hand, he presses the hand against his quirk inhibitors. Somewhere next to Shigaraki, Dabi hears the coughing and spluttering curses from his younger brother. In an instant, his quirk inhibitors join the swirling ash. He tells himself that he'll cremate Shigaraki later for even looking at Natsuo. For now, he turns to face the opening of the alley with both of his hands spread by his side- ready to fight for all of their lives.

Dabi has no idea what happened to Endeavor, the ringing in his ears finally fades away but he can't hear coming from the mouth of the alley. After straining his ears, he hears a wheezing cough ahead of him. As the ashen cloud settles, he sees Endeavor stir and struggle to sit up. To Dabi's curiosity, all of Endeavor's fire is absent. Squinting, he can see a small red vial sticking out just under his collar bone.

Casting a look to the gun next to Natsuo, his smile only grows until he's full laughing. Dabi takes a few steps in Endeavor's direction, still staying close to Natsuo and to his reluctance- Shigaraki. Dabi is faintly aware of the sutures closest to his mouth begin to rip, tearing away at sensitive flesh as he continues to laugh.

"Oh, you fucking piece of shit!" Dabi exclaims, his voice reverberates off the dusty walls. Stalking up to Endeavor, he studies the dazed man with a wide smile- blood seeps between the seams and where the sutures had torn his skin. "This is gold." Dabi wheezes out, coughing out the remainder of ash that had made its home in his lungs.

Tilting his head, his smile only grows when he sees an emotion in Endeavor's eyes that he had only seen once before. An emotion that had filled Dabi with glee at seeing in his father's eyes after the attack on Kyushu. Fear. Just as it had done in the past, Dabi is filled with a smug glee at seeing that fear. Giving the man a sharp kick to the ribs, he watches in disgust as Endeavor collapses over on his side. Dabi snorts at the pained grunt when Endeavor's head hits the ground.

"Old man, do you know how long that I've waited to kill you? How long I've thought about it? How each time I killed one of your hero comrades, I would tell myself that it was you that I was killing?" Dabi frowns when Endeavor closes his eyes. Reaching a hand out, he grabs a fistful of Endeavor's hair- shaking him gruffly.

"Oi, pig. Look at me when I'm talking. Wasn't that one of your little rules, hmm? To show respect to those more powerful than you by looking at them when they speak? There's no time for you here to be a hypocrite." Dabi's wry grin returns when Endeavor opens his eyes, a glassy and furious gaze staring up at him. Letting go of Endeavor's hair, he watches as the man hits the back of his head against the ground again.