Once Upon a December -Dabi (One-Shot)

Once Upon a December

Snow falls, shifting and twirling in its path. The city is covered in a white blanket of it.

Children yell and cheer in the street, church bells ring and carollers sing.

As a child, Dabi always hated the Grinch. Now, he supposes he's become one.

The children are playing, they're happy, and Dabi has mixed feelings about it. He watches from the rooftop, snow slowly covering him.

The snow drifts across and the scene of a living room appears. It's warm, the fireplace is burning. The mantlepiece is decorating with stockings and wonderful decorations. Little tin soldiers and mistletoe, glittering baubles and tiny elves.

The scene is faded like an old photo, voices muffled. A red-haired boy sits on the couch next to his mother. His younger brother and sister are chasing each other across the room. The youngest is on the other side of his mother.

His father stands nearby, distaste carved onto his face. A still image burned into Dabi's memory.

He remembers his mother singing, Shouto is laughing. Fuyumi is singing along. Natsuo reaches for a present.

The scene is magical, he remembers the snow globe he got. A white horse and carriage are inside it. The horse is rearing, the little details are painted on delicately.

The image is ruined by his father's face. It always is. His father's fire burns and scars the image away until it is nothing but the ashes and fragments of a memory.

Dabi stares out across the street. He longs to remember. He wants to remember what it felt like to be held by his mother. To remember his youngest brother's laugh.

To forget when he screamed from a boiling kettle. To forget when mother left, thrown away to a mental ward.

The memories are dim and far away. The decay of his father takes over. The warm embers turn to a bright blue and they dance around like snow.

His eyes glaze over to the city's hospital. His mother is there, he could visit her. But what would she think? She would be afraid of him.

And then it all gets destroyed by the image of his father. Haunting and searing.

His head goes around in circles. Mind spinning with a white horse, fire and a song.

A song he longs to hear again. A song one sings upon a December.