Chapter Text
Shoto was 19 years old and was sitting in front of a TV, watching the same old security footage he had watched repeatedly for four years now. Four years since Dabi disappeared from the battlefield without a word. Just to appear two weeks later with what looked like a bomb strapped to his chest outside Rei’s hospital. Dabi had taken Rei that day and then disappeared again, and had seen her since.
Shoto, Natsuo and Fuyumi did get birthday cards from Rei every year since, but they were sent from too many different places. And no one could find her, but she claimed she was fine. Endeavor had raged and swore vengeance, but still nothing.
Natsuo missed his mom, but if she was happy and safe that was all he could hope for. He lived with his wife Mariko and their two children, Kirito was almost four and Natsuko was eighteen months. Fuyumi still lived at home, fussing over Enji to make sure he ate and took care of himself.
Even after all these years, Shoto was trying to find anything but the video just kept turning up nothing. The only remarkable thing was when he got to Rei’s room. Yes Rei was scared, but it only lasted a few seconds. Dabi said one word to her, but there was no audio so Shoto had no clue what it was. Then Rei looked confused and stared at the villain before choosing to go with him.
Shoto hoped to have more luck the next day, he was finally able to talk to Toga, former member of the league. She had almost died, and had spent a lot of the time in the hospital. Midoriya and Uraraka had said she was doing better, they had been visiting her. Toga was also the closest member of the league to Dabi, so maybe she would know something.
Shoto spent the morning listening to his father, the number one hero, drone on and on about stuff he didn’t care about. Endeavor had gone back to normal, like nothing was wrong once the cameras were off of him. Shoto stood up, to head off to see Toga, after the meeting went on too long.
“Shoto, where are you going?” Endeavor asked.
“I have a meeting with Toga, Himiko,” Shoto said. “To discuss Dabi. It’s been on the books for months.” He went to leave. “Oh and don’t forget I am going out of town this weekend with Natsu-nii and Nee-san. To some special flower shop Natsu-nii wants a special gift for his wife.” Endeavor just nodded.
Shoto went to the hospital Toga was in and went to see her, she was behind glass. Her hair was down and she was hugging a Deku plushit.
“Hi Shoto!” Toga said, happily. “Deku said you were coming by. You wanted to talk to me?”
“I want to ask you about Dabi,” Shoto said.
“Dabi?” Toga asked. “He ran off.”
“I know,” Shoto said. “I was told by others you were the closest to him.”
“He was like a big brother,” Toga said. “He was nicer to me than my parents. He asked me to go with him when he left.”
“He did?” Shoto asked. Toga nodded. “But I had nowhere else to go. And he wouldn’t tell me anything about where he was going so I stayed.”
“Oh,” Shoto asked. “Anything about his life prior or how he would get a bomb?”
“Dabi with a bomb?” Toga asked. “He would never use such a thing. And he never talked about himself. You could ask hsi bird.”
“Who?” Shoto asked.
“Hawks!” Toga said. “Him and Dabi got really close. Spent a lot of alone time together.” Shoto looked confused. “I think Hawks is why Dabi wanted to leave. After everything, Hawks was just a spy.”
“Hawks?” Shoto asked. “Got close to Dabi?”
“Yes!” Toga said, hugging her Deku plushie. “If you see Dabi tell him I miss him!”
“Alright,” Shoto said. He got up since he was done.
Shoto headed out to his car, Hawks was half retired, was only number 56. He had stopped doing publicity years ago. And even had a breakdown during the war, and was never in the final battle. He had heard from Tokoyami he was doing too well, barely managed to take care of himself most dates and functioned off coffee and protein bars. And on really bad days he ate fried chicken in bed and slept in the crumbs.
He texted Tokoyami, before driving off, his former classmate knew some of what was going on so Shoto didn’t have to explain a whole lot. When he got home to his apartment, Tokoyami had responded. Apparently Hawks was also confused by Dabi having a bomb, and was asking if he could see the footage. Shoto sent it over as soon as he was in his apartment and went to get ready for bed and made sure he was packed for his weekend trip with his siblings.