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Dabi looked around the familiar landscape, or lack thereof. He had been here many times before. This is where his nightmares took place. Darkness as far he could see. Endless. It felt like solid ground beneath him, but when he looked it seemed like water as dark as the surroundings. Dabi felt calm here. He was used to this place and the terrors it put in his head. He could see something in the distance, so he started to walk towards it.
The closer Dabi got, the more he could make out the figure. They were laying on the ground, something stuck in their chest. They were dead. Red hair. It was a child. It was Touya. A knife plunged into his chest. Dabi was close now, able to see the details.
It was him as a child. Dead. Stabbed through the heart. His blood was staining the white sweater he was wearing. Touya’s hair, which normally covered his eyes, was spread out around him. Dabi didn’t feel anything looking at the figure. He knew Touya was long dead.
Then the dead child started to twitch, coming back to life. Touya slowly sat up, his hair falling in front of his face again. When he looked up at Dabi, the red locks fell to the side to show off the blue eyes underneath. Touya was small. Weak. He always had been sickly as a child. Both from his quirk and from the constant training from his father.
“I will always be a part of you.” Touya said. His voice was lighter, one of a child’s. But he still sounded nothing like Dabi, whose vocal cords were fried in the fire along with most of his body. “You can’t escape me.”
Dabi scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I already have.”
Touya laughed and then started to cough, blood spilling out of his mouth. Dabi started to frown, looking down at his former self. He had forgotten what he sounded like when he laughed.
Then the touch of a hand on his arm had Dabi spinning around, instantly forgetting about the dying child in front of him. There, a few inches shorter than him, stood Rei Todoroki. She wasn’t looking up at him, but Dabi could see she didn’t have any eyes - giant holes in place of where they were supposed to be. Dabi then felt fear. He jumped and fell backwards, right on top of Touya. He expected to feel the child underneath him, but he felt nothing. Maybe the child had sunk into the water beneath.
Dabi’s eyes found his mother’s hands. They were bloodied, a knife in one of them. The knife that was in Touya’s chest. Dabi couldn’t speak, fear clogging up his throat. Rei walked forward, lifting the knife above her head. Dabi couldn’t move as she struck him, the knife sinking into his chest. Into his heart.
Dabi gasped, his eyes snapping open. A hand immediately went to his chest, checking for a wound. There was nothing. He was back, out of his nightmare realm. He was okay. Dabi closed his eyes to regain himself. There were a few bits of light coming through his blinds. It was probably early morning.
Dabi shook his head and sat up, rubbing his face and hoped the images would disappear. Tomura could always tell when he had a nightmare. Said he looked haunted or like he’d seen a ghost. He would subtly nag him throughout the day until Dabi would leave, tired of the prodding. Dabi definitely didn’t need his boss questioning him today. While the sight of Touya wasn’t strange, Rei hadn’t been in his nightmares for years.