Come to see me

      A downpour of rain dripped from her platinum-blond hair onto her thick lashes, obscuring her eyes, which were as blue as a cloudless sky. His clothes, soaked with rainwater, clung to his body and were cold and nasty. He stood in the great square, shackled by heavy shackles that blocked his abilities, chained to a huge concrete pole erected on a high pedestal. Like a wild beast, he had been exposed for three days to the scorching sun and the torrential downpour. A worthy punishment for a villain who was chased for so long and finally caught, losing three heroes in the process. In spite of the Endeavor's demands to send him to Tartarus, the city authorities went along with the people of the city, who had lost much because of the League of Villains, and demanded a public punishment for one of its members, not the most recent in the organization. For three days he would be chained to a pole in the square without food or water.       Raindrops drummed on the many domes of umbrellas. He lifted his head and looked at the faces of the people gathered in spite of the weather. There was a sizzling hatred in them for the man for whom they had suffered so much grief. Because of whom they had lost friends, family, and loved ones.       Shouts were heard from everywhere: "Murderer!", "Torturer!", "Die beast!" Someone in the crowd tried to throw a stone at him. But such actions were stopped by the heroes guarding him.       Dabi grinned wryly.       "You wouldn't be so brave if I had my hands free," he said, his eyes flashing menacingly. The guy tilted his head back. Droplets of water ran down his face. He opened his mouth to try to drink the rainwater. For he could not do that.       He turned his gaze back to the crowd. Behind everyone were three people who were all too familiar to him. A long-haired woman and two young men. They all had platinum hair and gray eyes. Only the girl had a red strand in her hair.       "What a beauty you've become, Fuyumi. Probably the best teacher in school," Dabi decided to himself.       The woman's face rested on the girl's shoulder, and he could tell by the shuddering shoulders that she was crying. Fuyumi tried in vain to comfort her.       "Mother, you must have loved me in your own way. And now you can't even look at me.       You're ashamed of your son," he thought with a slight annoyance.       The tall, short-haired, solidly built guy standing next to him kept glancing in his direction, occasionally averting his gaze. And in his gray eyes there was a gamut of contradictory emotions: dislike, frustration, disappointment, pity. Pity was what Dabi hated most of all. "Natsuo, how you've grown. Probably a straight-A student at the institute and an example to the rest of us. But I don't need to be a role model. I won't tolerate competition," Todoroki Sr. grinned to himself.       The crowd was indignant, and sticks, pebbles, and small objects were thrown at the prisoner. Not all of the projectiles were intercepted by the heroes. And then another small stone launched by a well-aimed hand hit him in the head, scratching his forehead. He felt a trickle of warm blood on his face, washed away by the rainwater.       "Stop it! Otherwise we'll drive them all away!" One of the heroes guarding him shouted at them.       He glanced through the crowd again and did not find one person in the crowd.       "And where is the Crown Prince. He doesn't want to tarnish his reputation by coming here. Clever boy. Or Daddy wouldn't let him," Dabi grinned to himself, expecting something like that.       Soon it was evening. The crowd was dispersed. The head wound was healed. A force dome was erected around Dabi to prevent his possible escape. After a day in the same posture his whole body began to tire. His shoulder joints ached, barely able to bear the weight of the shackles on his arms.       "Yeah, this isn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be," thought Toya, throwing his head back and looking up at the night sky with its beads of stars. Soon he felt sleepy and his head sank back to his chest. After a while, he fell into a heavy, intermittent sleep. The next morning was as overcast as the previous ones. However, there were no fewer people than the day before.       "Don't they have anything else to do?" Dabi thought with bewilderment.       In the midst of the crowd stood out the powerful figure of a tall man in a long brown cloak and hat. He was staring at the prisoner. It was hard to tell what was more in his azure eyes. Sternness or regret. On the one hand he could not believe that Toya could turn into a cynical villain. On the other, there was a lingering hope that his first-born son, whose death he still blamed himself for, whoever he was, was alive after all. And that lifted a great weight from his soul.       Cold malice appeared in Dabi's eyes.       "What's this one doing here," the prisoner resented. The last thing he wanted was to see the Endeavor here.       "Get out! Nobody called you here!!!" Dabi yelled at the top of his lungs, and the indignant crowd fell silent.       The Endeavor stood in the crowd for a few more minutes. Then he pulled his hat over his eyes, so as not to be recognized, and began to make his way through the crowd, walking away.       His stomach gave a loud outburst, which spurred the audience to make some strong remarks.       "Serves you right!" "Die, motherfucker!" "Damn you!" Shouts were heard. Dabi laughed.       "You miserable worms. If I were free, you'd be shrieking with fear," he said, and his blue eyes flashed unkindly.       "Worthless, useless mutts. All they could do was bark at someone who was helpless. If I wasn't shackled, they'd run off in different directions, crushing each other, screaming for help. They would save their own skin and not give a damn about helping their neighbor. We are the scavengers of this world. Fear of us reveals all their mean, pathetic selves. What they really are," Dabi thought with disgust as he looked at the crowd of people. He did not look at their faces, for he would have recognized the one he was waiting for. But even today he was not there.       "Why don't you come to see me, little brother. Don't you feel happy and proud of your heroes who managed to catch me. You won't throw stones at me. You will not curse me. You will not wish me dead. You think you are too noble for that. Don't flatter yourself. You too are Todoroki. The Endeavor's offspring. I am your reflection in the mirror, which you turn away from with shame," he said mentally to his brother, who was not there.       The sun began to set, painting the roofs of the buildings in colors of gold, orange, and scarlet. My numb body began to ache relentlessly, every cell of it. The pain in his shoulder joints was increasing, and he assumed he was going to sprain his ligaments. Dabi tried to move his shoulders, which gave him another burst of pain, and it caused his guards, who had recently been on the night shift, to look at him warily. He tilted his head back as far as he could, fighting a sleep that was more like unconsciousness.       "Well, no one said the punishment shouldn't be cruel," Todoroki Sr. chuckled to himself. Soon, in spite of his efforts, his head bowed to his chest and he fell asleep. With each passing minute his strength was leaving his body. No, they weren't going to kill him, but they were going to drain him. He could hardly make full use of his powers, so weakened physically. And I don't think he would have to. After all, after a public flogging, he would be imprisoned in Tartarus.       The morning of the third day. The rays of the sun that had appeared ran golden sparks across his long black eyelashes. He raised his head and looked around. The square was empty. Empty for now. Soon the crowd would gather here again, to mock him, causing more and more hatred and resentment. His head was beginning to hurt. Objects were losing their shapes now and then. Dabi lowered his head again and seemed to briefly lose consciousness. He regained consciousness with the indignant murmurings of the crowd. There were many more people than usual. Now he did not care what they did or said. Some objects were flying at him again, even some vegetables, and it already seemed somewhat amusing. Dabi looked at the crowd and chuckled quietly. Once again there was no painfully familiar face among the assembled people. The guards looked at each other anxiously, fearing that the prisoner had lost his mind. He had been glancing through the crowd all day, hoping to see him. Thinking he was watching him from somewhere sneakily. But his expectations were in vain. Without knowing why, he wanted to see the look on his face. Whether Shoto would burn with shame, look with hatred or a chilling coldness. Whether he would say that he deserved it all. Now Dabi would never know. Tomorrow morning a prison truck would come to the square to pick him up.       The day was approaching evening again. A protective field appeared around him again. It seemed to him that he was beginning to get used to the constant intense pain throughout his body. But the prisoner stubbornly clenched his jaws to keep from uttering a sound. He was not going to please the guards with his moans. Dabi sighed, and a satisfied smile played on his haggard face.       "Daddy didn't say it was wrong to break the rules, especially for a hero. Why did you do that? You know you won't be able to leave the scaffold until morning," Dabi said reproachfully.       From behind the pillar to which he was chained, a short kid with two-colored hair and eyes with rare heterochromia emerged.       "I know," replied Shoto.       "If you want to punch me in the face, the moment is right," said Dabi in a light, playful tone.       "I don't hit the helpless," answered Todoroki Jr. glumly.       "What nobility!" Dabi grinned.       Shoto unbuttoned his jacket and took out a cheese-filled taiyaki wrapped in a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Dabi.       "Eat," he said, looking around cautiously. The guards were dozing peacefully at their posts.       "You want to poison me and rid the world of your family's shame," Todoroki Sr. said with feigned suspicion.       "No," said Shoto, and to reassure Dabi, he took a bite of the fish cake. He handed him the food again.       "Do you realize that you're going to get in trouble for this. I'm actually a villain. Don't you think I deserve all this," Dabi continued to interrogate.       "Yes, that's true, but you should be in jail, not here. Eat quickly," said Shoto, glancing cautiously at the guards. The grumbling in the prisoner's stomach urged him to hurry, too. He took a cautious bite of his pie, then ate the rest quickly. After feeding him, Shoto pulled a flask of water from his pocket. Dabi drank greedily in large gulps until he had drunk almost all of it.       "Whose idea was it? Was it your mother's or yours?" Dabi asked.       "The general idea," replied Shoto, sitting down on the platform with his back to the column beside the prisoner.       "And does the Endeavor know about it?" Todoroki Sr. asked.       "No," replied Shoto.       "And for some reason I'm not surprised. He'd do anything to stop you, that's for sure. It's inappropriate for a hero to disobey orders, isn't it. You still haven't forgiven him," Dabi said.       Shoto was silent. He didn't know why he agreed to take part in this venture. He agreed without a second thought. Though he felt no pity or brotherly feelings for him at all. He caused too much grief to people and his family by his actions. And that he could not forgive him. As for his father. Dabi was partly right. The anger against him still lived in his heart, but he tried to make peace with it, though it wasn't working very well so far. With such crumpled thoughts, he fell asleep. And Dabi suddenly felt a weight on his thigh. He looked down and saw that Shoto was asleep, leaning against him.       "Good night, little brother," said Dabi, and fell into an intermittent sleep. Shoto's help brought some relief, but it did not relieve the pain.       On the morning of the fourth day, when he opened his eyes, Shoto was gone. Dabi realized that he had hidden behind a pillar again, waiting for the protective force field to be removed. Soon after, a prison bus arrived in the square. A man in uniform got out and walked toward the guards, holding some documents in his hands. He gave them to one of the heroes. He read them and ordered the prisoner to be unfastened from the column. The prisoner, weakened by the pain in his stiffened parts of his body, literally dropped onto the guards' arms. He was dragged by common effort into the van. And the hero gave the guard the keys to the handcuffs, wishing to get to Tartarus without incident.       As the van left the square, one of the guards removed Dabi's shackles.       "Aren't you afraid I'll strangle you," Todoroki Sr. grinned as he looked at the man, rubbing his aching wrists.       "I'm not afraid," the guard said in an unexpectedly high-pitched voice. His image began to melt away, and in a couple of minutes in place of the guard sat a blond, smiling girl with a crazy look.       Dabi smiled evilly.       The window between the driver and the passenger compartment opened and a guy in a black and white mask looked in.       "Say you're glad to see us. Say it. Say," he babbled, taking off his uniform cap.       "Just in ecstasy," Dabi replied, falling on his side on the couch, and the next moment he was asleep.       How perplexed the heroes were when, half an hour later, another prison van arrived in the square and the Endeavor got out. When he saw the empty scaffold, listened to the heroes' stories, and looked at the fake documents, he immediately realized that they had once again been tricked. Immediately the police, special services, and heroes from the top ten were alerted. But the prison van with Dabi had vanished into thin air. The Endeavor sat in his office with a frown on his face.       It was getting pretty late. The office door opened. Shoto came in.       "How could this have happened. So much effort. So much sacrifice, and all in vain," Endeavor said grudgingly.       "You wanted to take him to jail yourself?" Shoto guessed.       "It's my sin... my fault," Angie said, dropping his head in his hands. His blue eyes were moist.       Shoto went to the window. Night had descended on the city. Thinking back to his conversation with Dabi, he suddenly caught himself that there was no sequence of the tragic events that Dabi had gone through. No, Toya Todoroki. They might well have been friends. And maybe he would have been the brother to look up to. After all, when he refused to eat, it was like some semblance of caring. If only... How his father would have reacted when he found out what he had done. He probably wouldn't approve, but that was the least of his worries right now. Dabi on the loose was certainly dangerous, and he shouldn't have forgotten that.       Shoto suddenly saw a blue light flash on the roof of one of the neighboring buildings. But maybe it was just his imagination.