Perhaps it was a pipe dream to think that things would slow down after the Necropolis. You wanted nothing more than a break, some time to chill and just spend some time in a single town, working on getting home and working as the amazing waitress you were.

Well... Perhaps amazing was the wrong word. You certainly didn't trip over yourself all the time as Elizabeth did, nor did you drop stuff because every single customer backed into you like Hagakure (It wasn't her fault, she was actually really agile, sometimes people surprised her), but you had your own issues.

Surprise surprise, people don't necessarily like having their waitress disappear as they're bringing food and drink, nor do they like being popped in on when they are in the bathroom.

God and heavens above, you felt like a mess.

Meliodas was good about it, in fact, you were pretty sure he enjoyed it when these 'incidents' happened, and if someone came in having been scared 'shitless' because of you, they'd get a free drink... In three days, he'd already had ten people claim the offer. Ban about died whenever you walked out of the bathroom red-faced. Which, to your chagrin, was more than once.

It was less than ideal... but at least you weren't being treated like a ticking time bomb, and everyone was good about turning these moments into badges of honor.

Still... There must have been something in the air, because you were sneezing at least ten times a day now.

Thankfully, you rarely traveled out of sight of the tavern with this new burst of sneezing, but if things ever went belly up and you ended up running for your life because you sneezed into the wrong group of people, you really wouldn't be surprised.

The day started out innocently enough, with the task you'd given yourself of cleaning the bathroom, a.k.a, a small closet-like room with a bucket and wipes (You were going to kiss a sink when you got back to your world), over and done with. Really, Ban said it was going to be a boring week, and you almost cried, which made Dabi start doing that weird little half-laugh of his as you hugged the sin.

It was funny... Dabi claimed to hate Ban, who maintained his claim that the scars on Dabi were sexy, and in return, Dabi had set Ban on fire more than once, occasionally taking bribes from the customers to do so, but you weren't blind. It was rare to see the two apart, and when you did, Dabi hung with you, sulking.

But don't point that out to him.

Still, he was a good man, and was quickly turning into your favorite person to talk to in the tavern. (Meliodas would be better, but he made fun of you too much), as seen in the way the two of you teamed up against Ban. The man laughed it off, but still kicked them out of the tavern to go find Elizabeth, who was more of a trouble magnet then you were, it seemed.

"Hey Dabi?" It was a gorgeous overcast day, cool enough that you didn't want to die, and there was a breeze, your perfect day. Of course, you were in a good mood.

He shot you a glance, apparently still pouting for whatever reason his angsty ass wanted to pout about this time, "What?"

Wow, that was a lot of venom in his voice for someone who wasn't glaring. How he managed to fit so much rage into such an average frame was beyond you. It truly was a talent. No, you couldn't focus on that, if you pissed him off, he'd just clam up again. Like every time something mildly inconvenienced him.

"Well," You kicked a rock on the trail, wincing as it proved to be heavier than you thought, "You never mention home. Do you have anyone there? Someone who'd be worried about you?" Yep, these were dangerous waters, it was personal and maybe a sore topic, but what could you say? You were a curious person.

Silence met your question, and when you risked a glance at him, Dabi's face had tightened, his cold blue eyes sharp and unforgiving.

It didn't take a genius to guess his life back in your world wasn't amazing.

After all, you met him in an alleyway. He was no stranger to conflict. Now the fun question you had to ask yourself was how you got out of the hole you just dug...

"You always this invasive, hero?"

Oof. Invasive was a bad word. It was meant for things like weeds or a tumor. What pile of trouble had you just jumped into?

A weak chuckle was all you could manage at that, "Well, kind of. I... Um... I'm not good at containing curiosity I guess." Maybe if you brushed it off as a joke, he'd ignore this ever happened.

"Yeah. I can tell."

Double oof. Oh look, there was a cliff, perfect, maybe you could throw yourself off it just to get out of this fun situation. "Honestly, Dabi," You said quickly, trying to backtrack, "You don't have to answer that, I was just curious, it's not like I need to know!" You smiled slightly, "I just, well..." Okay, navigate these waters without dying... Like you'd ever managed to do that before, "You know a bit about me, but really, all I know about you is that you hang out in alleyways sometimes and fight random people."

Ah yes, the moment you met. It felt like ages ago, even though it was probably just over a month.

He shook his head, face relaxing just a bit and his hand went up to cover his eyes, "I didn't fight random people," It came out as more of a snort then a growl, which seemed like a good thing to you, "I fought people who picked a fight. There's a difference."

He stumbled slightly as your elbow rammed into him, "Sure there is, I mean, throwing fire at an absolutely innocent person who just popped in is absolutely reasonable." You tried not to grin at him, you really did, but as he stared at you with all the disbelief and shock in the world, you couldn't stop the grin from growing, and you stuck your tongue out at him before looking back at the trail.

All was silent for a moment, the tension gone and something close to a smile tugging at Dabi's always glaring face.

"I don't have anyone."

You almost didn't hear him speaking, but it was him. the way he spoke made it seem like this was something he'd been trying not to think about for a while. So you stayed silent. If this was going to come out, it wouldn't be because you pried.

He sighed heavily, "I mean, I have a family, but they... They..." He shook his head, and you looked away again, simply nodding, "They don't know that I'm alive, let alone that I'm missing. It's..." His voice faded out as he began to pick at the staples on his wrist, something you realized he did when he was nervous or frustrated.

"Complicated?" You finished for him, gently nudging his side, "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I get it."

Admittedly, curiosity filled you, making you want nothing more than to do exactly what you knew you shouldn't. Didn't know he was alive? What kind of messed up family was that? There were so many questions, and you knew that you weren't allowed to ask any of them.

By some great act of God, you managed to hold your tongue, watching as the small town you had parked by came into view. Honestly, it was beautiful, the small wooden houses helped to highlight the large stone buildings, no smog hid anything, and the amount of greenery that served as the backdrop made you feel as though you were in a painting.

Perhaps being stuck in a land like this wasn't so bad.

You raised a hand and waved as some of the villagers, who were already beginning to recognize you, called out in welcome, "Well, Patches," You grinned at him, "I hate to tell you this, but now you have us."

It stopped him in his tracks, but you continued on, happy for a reason to hide the blush that randomly decided to start painting your face. It was true. Despite it all, you'd started caring for the overly aggressive guy, and you knew for a fact that everyone else in the group you were forming did too. Crusty exterior or not.

.

.

.

True to your luck, things changed quickly, as they always did. At first, it was nothing more than a conversation that grabbed your attention, it certainly wasn't something that you intended to jump into, but they were talking about armor... so... well, shall we say that your attention had been caught.

"Glue?" A gruff voice said, almost disbelievingly, "I thought you were talking armor, why in the world would you want glue?"

Dabi nudged you as you grimaced, was this idiot trying to ruin the armor? Depending on the type of glue, applying it to a set of armor and letting it sit was a guaranteed death sentence for any set. Things like Elmers and whatnot were fine, the most they could do would be to strip the varnish, but something told you they didn't have simple glues like that.

"Don't even think about it, hero."

His warning fell on deaf ears as you stopped in your tracks, the next words shaking you to your very core.

"Oh yes, I most certainly am talking about armor... And glue. You see, a friend of mine broke a piece out of his, and I was looking for something that I could temporarily mend it with, and gluing a piece of wood in there seems like the best bet. Can you help me, sir?"

No... This fool... How...

Poor Dabi was left to stare after you in wonder as you pivoted on your heel and began to march in the direction of the conversation. You may not be a blacksmith, but neither was the idiots about to make a transaction over here. Fury began to bubble up in your chest as you went. How dare he! That wouldn't be okay as a cruel prank, let alone something that you do to a friend! Oh, he'd see. You didn't get out your 'mom' voice all that often, but when you did...

Well, perhaps it was more accurate to say that you never got out your 'mom' voice, but that was hardly the point.

"Excuse me," As you spoke, you could feel yourself grimace internally, those two words sounded just like any Karen who has been displeased. Heaven help the manager, but Iida (Y/N) was here... God, what had you become?

The two parties turned to look at you, one a green-haired young person who was incredibly androgynous, and the other, an exasperated looking shop keeper who still had goods in his hands. No doubt he was just setting up his stall for the day when this young one came over and started to pester him with questions that he (who obviously wasn't a blacksmith) likely didn't know or care about the answers to.

"Oh, hello," The young person said, head cocked as they stared with some of the blankets eyes you had ever seen, "Do you need something?"

No, you absolutely weren't allowed to snap at this random person, it would only paint you to be a hysterical know-it-all... Which you might be, but if you were to be painted as such, there needed to be a damn good reason. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt," As much as you tried, your smile still turned rather strained, "But I heard what you were talking about earlier, and I have to ask you to please not use any form of glue on your friend's armor."

The shopkeep turned away, while the green-haired person simply tilted their head further, looking more like a doll than anything.

"Oh?" Still, their voice remained even keel, though there was a slight hint of confusion there, which was echoed by his eyes, "Is there a reason I would follow that advice? Typically, it's advisable to only listen to experts on matters like this, I see no reason to take your advice into consideration."

Excuse you?

A hand grabbed your arm right as you stepped forward, rage blazing in your eyes. This bitch really was looking to be hurt, weren't they? Not that you were remotely threatening, but you could certainly try to pound those stupid blank eyes into the ground.

Dabi, the levelheaded one in this moment (And yes, it was as odd as it sounded), had you tightly though, definitely not about to let you go. He'd pounded enough smartasses into the ground in his day to know exactly what you wanted to do at that moment, "It's not worth it, hero," He murmured, tugging you back slightly, "Let him make his choices, it's not your problem if he ruins the armor."

Wasn't it?

Well... No, it wasn't... but now you felt like your pride was on the line, "Perhaps," Dabi sighed as you spoke, "But you know what? As someone who's inspected armor and done more research on armor then I would really care too, I feel like you'd benefit from listening to me, especially since I can help you fix your friend's armor."

It was such a simple interaction, however, the longer you stared down this person, the more you felt that something was on the line here. They were judging you, evaluating you. For such a simple thing, this felt dangerous, and if the way Dabi was shifting behind you, tensing and getting ready for a fight... he felt it too.

The person stepped towards you, and it took everything you had to not step back, or even start running away, "This is interesting." Their head cocked as they leaned in close, "You aren't from this world, are you?"

A flash of light hit you, and your brain decided that his moment was the time to open the flood gates.

The first sneeze that hit you felt as though your sinuses were attempting to blow themselves out, and of course, you could feel yourself apparate, a firm hand gripping your arm like a vice.

Unfortunately, you weren't able to see where you went, nor did you have time to acclimate, because before you had even fully appeared in the new place, you sneezed again...

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

You could tell that this wasn't normal, you never sneezed this many times in a row, but here you were, being pulled through that tight, borderline painful tube over, and over, and over again. It hurt, and at some point your breathing became strained.

Everything hurt as your lungs cramped, exhausted from sneezing so many times.

Liquid began to roll out of every orifice on your face and panic filled you.

What just happened?! Sure, you were sneezing more than normal, but it was nothing like this! It was nothing like this hellscape as you sneezed over and over, your body destroying itself little by little and purple smoke pouring from you like a waterfall.

The pressure on your arm only tightened as you panicked, every scream and sob that you wanted to let out trapped in you, your quirk never letting up, leaving room for nothing but sneezing. Green eyes watched you intently, and a much softer grip on your shoulder loosened and eventually disappeared completely the longer you sneezed.

You could feel the moment your lungs gave way, pain hitting you so severely that the forced sneezing stopped, and you buckled to the ground unable to make noise as you retched, something spilling past your lips.

The surface you finally fell on was hard, and as you gagged on whatever it was filling your throat, you felt a hand on your back, sending heat surging into your body. It was surreal, but you had not time to think of that as your ability to remain awake fled, you couldn't breathe... You couldn't breathe!

For a moment you convulsed on the floor, desperately retching and attempting to force air in... You didn't want to die here!

As darkness swallowed you, purple filled your mind and a deep alto tone reached you through the darkness, "You can leave now, Gowther. I'll take her from here."

***

Dabi dropped to his knees after falling out of the cloud of purple, his whole body protesting what had just happened. That green-haired twat made some fancy light flash and (Y/N) began to sneeze. That had been his only indication that shit was about to go down, and he nearly hadn't grabbed her.

God damn it!

He tried so hard to keep a hold of her, but he saw it, their world.

Somehow, she'd been able to get them back to the world they came from! He saw it, and he thought they were done! But now... he let go, why did he let go?!

A growl ripped from him as he slammed his fist down onto the grass.

He hated it, but he knew they were back in the world they were stuck in. They'd been so close to being home, but he let go and now they were gone!

She'd been so close to being able to go home and see her family again, so why?... He didn't know what happened, and now he didn't even where (Y/N) was. He failed... God damn it! It was supposed to be a boring few days, (Y/N) was supposed to start working on her quirk to get more control of it, but now she was gone!

What had that green-haired fucker done with her!

"... Dabi?"

Oh god, everything hurt. Dabi slowly turned his head to see King hovering in front of him, along with everyone else, and a giant person in a purple suit of armor.

Almost robotically, he turned his head to the other side and blinked slowly as he saw another group of people, looking none too friendly on the other side of them, all holding weapons and seemingly ready to fight.

As he looked back, he began to notice that everyone on his side looked about ready for a fight as well.

Just what was going on here?

Slowly, he pushing himself back up, only to have Hagakure rush forward, helping him stand and pulling him back slightly, "Hot damn, Dabi, I feel like both you and (Y/N) have the worst sense of timing! That could've been really bad." The whole field watched as he stumbled out of the way before the giant man in the metal mask stepped forward again.

"By the way," Hasame muttered, still trying to urge him further out of the way, but he refused, "Where's (Y/N)?"

Around him, the atmosphere continued to get more dangerous, but Dabi couldn't focus on that. Instead, he focused on where he assumed Hagakure's eyes were and tried not to scream, "I... I don't know, she was taken."

A flash of light pulled them back into the moment, Hagakure gasping in horror as she saw an arrow fly right towards the group... her friends.

Everything was happening so quickly, Dabi held up and weak hand, his quirk flashing to life and racing to intercept, Meliodas, screaming his friend's name, everyone moving at once, trying to beat the arrow, but it was moving too quickly.

It all seemed impossible, but just as the arrow was about to hit, a hooded figure stepped into the way, arm shooting up and grabbing the bolt... Then the clearing exploded.

Dabi managed to stay standing out of sheer shock. There was a hint of green hair coming from under the hood. They were speaking, but Dabi couldn't hear a word of it. He just saw the person who forced (Y/N)'s quirk to activate, regardless of whether or not they were quickly changing appearance, and he moved.

Surely, the speech of this person was epic, but it was quickly interrupted as blue fire encased them, Dabi following only a second after to tackle the unknown kidnapper to the ground.

~~~~~~

Okay... SO perhaps this chapter changed plots multiple times as I was writing it, but I rather like where it ended up, well, let's just say, things are going to be very interesting for a good few chapters, and there might be a time skip soon... We'll see where my ADHD brain goes with it!

Klypso01