A/N: Welcome to book 2! If you haven't read Skin, make sure you go read that first or else you won't understand this story at all. Skin focused mainly on Dabi and his struggles but I noticed that the story was changing from my original plan. So, Scars will still focus on the Todoroki bros, but it will also bring more attention to some side characters (both canon and non canon). This also gives me a chance to use more of the OCs you guys suggested. Also..... there's a certain hero you all have been asking about and he may play a big role in this book as a possible antagonist 👀 Hopefully that teaser perks your interest. With that being said, enjoy chapter 1!
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Since The League joined forces with the Shin Sekai Order, more and more eyes are being opened up to the world around them. The League continues to manipulate society and the Shin Sekai tells them that they all deserve free will. Whoever wears the badge of "hero" are now being looked down on by a majority of the citizens. So much so that they're being referred to as "gods of the plague". Every day, more and more warriors of justice are stepping down and taking their rightful place at the bottom of the food chain where so many of the oppressed were forced to lay.

Dabi began to lose even more control over his comrades as time went on. Even Twice and Toga of all people were beginning to fall under Shouto's command. This "alliance" was only a façade in order for Shouto to grow his army. Dabi knew he should have seen it coming, but his little brother was right. Being underestimated had its advantages.

"Bakugou!" Toga skipped over to the chained up boy and kicked over a tray of food. "Eat up, love. You got a big day ahead of you." She giggled and held a spoon full of slop up to the boys busted lips. When he refused to open, Toga roughly squished his cheeks so his mouth would part, allowing her to force feed him. "Awww you're so adorable. Like a little mangy puppy!" she squealed. Bakugou slowly reached for the bottle of water that was by Toga's foot, only for her to threaten that she would stab through his hand if he moved without orders. "Uh-Uh. What do we say?"

"Please..." Toga opened up her mouth and took a swig just to mock their thirsty prisoner.

"You want it?" She teasingly held up the water then began to spill it on the concrete floor. "Then drink it."

Never in his life did Bakugou imagine himself in this state. He was now kneeled down, licking up water from the ground like some homeless mutt. He's been a prisoner for two months now and in that time he's suffered lacerations (Toga), burns (Shouto), suffocation (Tyra) and being annoyed to death by Okada. As well as getting his pinky and middle fingers chopped off. When he was shown the news, his pinky had been sent to his family while the middle was sent to the Hero Commissions Office.

By doing this, it showed people that there were no more heroes that were willing to step up and save when there would be no praise coming from society. And for those that did try looking for the missing boy, they were quickly disposed of by The League or recruited and promised a better world where they didn't have to risk their lives for others.

"Your friends have been looking for you, y'know." Toga twirled her bloody knife around her skinny fingers. "Especially that cutie, Deku. He's been searching high and low for the smallest clue. Lucky for us, Todoroki is really good at deceiving people. Nobody expects him of doing a thing. The Shin Sekai continues their little protests through the streets while the League works in the shadows with all of the lovely blood." Toga felt her cheeks start to heat up at the thought of violence. "I had my doubts. I really did, but I'm glad I was wrong."

"It's not over." Bakugou's arms trembled under his weight, "You won't win."

"Who's gonna stop us? Anybody who's a hero has either joined us or given up. Let's face it, the terms hero and villain have lost all meaning. Some of us are able to finally walk the streets without being attacked. People sympathize with us and see we're not all bad." She pouted and held her hands up to her puffy cheeks. If Bakugou didn't know any better, he'd say she looked like a harmless school girl.

"You're a killer." He growled, "A cold blooded killer."

Toga shot him a glare, "You think just because I've killed that I don't have feelings? I always had to pretend to be what's considered normal by societies standards. It's like I was wearing a mask that I could never take off. Do you know what that feels like? Being called a demon child by your own family because you were born different?" Bakugou didn't respond. He knew what she had meant. Being their prisoner meant he couldn't walk away when they decided to talk to him. He was forced to listen.

"So what? You're not the first person with a sob story and you definitely aren't the last."

Toga's eyes burned with tears as she pressed her lips together to stop them from quivering. "You're a jerk!"

"Take some responsibility for once in your life. Nobody forced you to kill. You made that decision on your own." He argued back. Toga and Bakugou talked often so he knew she wouldn't kill him no matter what he said.

"You don't know anything!" Her voice cracked as she shouted.

"I know plenty. Your parents forcing you to suppress your quirk. You stabbing some guy you liked and drinking his blood. Then you ran away."

"It wouldn't have happened if my family would have accepted and loved me for who I was." Bakugou rolled his eyes. "Did I ever tell you what my parents quirks were?"

"I don't care."

Toga sighed as she sat up against the wall beside Bakugou. "That's why people like you don't understand people like me. You don't want to listen."

"Fine. Tell me."

"My mom could make someone's body, as well as her own immune to pain. And my dad was a healer." With quirks like those, Toga's parents ended up meeting in the medical field. Little did they know,  they were going to give birth to a very "sick" girl that not even they could cure.

Bakugou tried to figure out how those two powers could create a blood curdling based quirk. He couldn't think up a logical explanation. "That doesn't make sense."

"I know. It's called a quirk mutation."

"I thought that's when someone's quirk can never be turned off. Like Bird Boy (Tokoyami)." Kids learned about quirk types at an early age, especially mutant based quirks. They didn't want the "normal" looking children to fear the "abnormal" looking ones. Which was why every child in their pre and elementary school years had to read books talking about tolerance and how "we're all the same on the inside". Which technically wasn't true at all.

"Yeah, my case is different though. My quirk wasn't anything genetic. It's really rare when that happens. Like 5%. Which is why nobody learns about it or knows how to deal with it." Toga explained how when her quirk first manifested, she could smell the blood off of others. How it's scent was sweet and savory like fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. Whenever she looked at a living thing and thought it was pretty, something in her mind told her to drink it's blood. "It was almost like when you see a cute puppy and your first instinct is to pet it. Or when you see a yummy food and immediately want a taste. That's what it feels like when I have the urge to drink someone's blood." Toga stared down at her hands that had dried blood under her nails from a previous kill. Her lips wrapped around her finger tips to suck off the remaining clumps.

"I didn't know things like that could happen." Bakugou admitted. He still believed it didn't give Toga the excuse to kill, but he was getting a better understanding of why she turned out the way she did.

"I asked the creepy Doc the other day when I had to get an update on Handyman. He told me his theory is that quirks are rooted into our personalities. If ones quirk requires blood in order for it to activate, then it's user will crave blood by nature."

"Or if someone has an explosion quirk it causes them to be-"

"Explosive."

"I was gonna say loud and awesome."

Toga muffled her giggle into the cuff of her sleeve. "I just want people to understand, Bakugou. I'm not doing this because I want to only live freely and do what I want. I'm doing it so that people like me won't have to suffer anymore and go down my same path. It's not our fault that our "villainous quirks" caused us to have " violent tendencies" which became second nature to how we go through life."

"Toga..."

"In my head I am normal!" Tears began to stream down Toga's face. "Me! Twice! Tomura! Dabi! We're people too! We turned out like this only because we were neglected, pushed to the side, and abused all thanks to our quirks!" She was screaming through her cries, barely able to get her words out. This was the first time she ever had the chance to explain things in her own words and let her true feelings show through it. "You want to talk about taking responsibility for my actions? Well who took responsibility for hurting us!?"

Bakugou looked away, not having a single answer for the girl. "Nobody should have to go through that. It's unfortunate."

Toga scoffed, "Last thing I need is your pity."

"It's not pity." He raised his voice, "You weren't given the help or care that you needed. Instead you were called crazy and just... became who you are now."

"I still love myself regardless, and I don't want to be hated or terrified of anymore."

"I get it." Bakugou spoke more gently, "I'm sorry for not wanting to hear you out."

"Hm, that's one out of billions. It's a start I guess." Toga's lips carved out a sad smile. "You know what's crazy, Bakugou?" She leaned her head against his shoulder, and much to Toga's surprise he didn't threaten her this time for touching him. "It took you being chained up and tortured to listen to what someone like me had to say. Now do you get why we want to cleanse the world and start over?"

Bakugou stared off at the metal door in front of him. That door was his escape. Everyday he used the tiny sparks from his dwindling quirk to weaken his chains for when he eventually saw the opportunity to break out. The suppression drugs he was forced to ingest were working too quickly and day by day his quirk grew weaker. Each shackle had small cracks in the metal, and with a few forceful tugs, his chains would be broken. Bakugou then shifted his eyes down at Toga and listened to her sniffles. It all made sense now. "Yeah, I get it."

She looked up at him with a hopeful gleam in her eyes before wiping her face dry. "I'm gonna go get you some more food okay. I'll try to find something tasty." Toga dusted herself off and left Bakugou unsupervised. A good ten minutes had gone by and Toga came back down to the cellar to find Bakugou in the same spot where she left him. Head leaned back against the wall, staring up at god knows what. "I hope you like Pop Tarts. It's all I could sneak you." She handed him the box, which he tore open and devoured like a starved animal. Toga was sure he had even swallowed bits of the wrapper. "Slow down you'll choke." She then pulled out a full bottle of water and twisted the cap off. "Here." Tipping his chin back, Toga poured the water into his mouth.

Bakugou reached his hand up and placed it over hers so she could pour out even more water since he was drinking it so quickly. It tasted so refreshing and the throbbing sensation in his head was finally subsiding. The cloudiness of his vision cleared up as well. "So... good." Bakugou panted as he gulped every last drop. It wasn't until he was finished that he noticed that he was still holding onto Toga's hand. He quickly released his grip and looked away, "Thank you."

Toga noticed the cracks in the shackles while Bakugou was asleep a few nights ago. She knew he was planning to escape before his "big day" but for some reason she told no one. Maybe it was because she was testing him. "Or maybe it's cuz I really am crazy." she mumbled to herself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Toga cleared up the scraps and put it in her pockets, "Rest up and go along with the plan if you want to live."

The way she said those words didn't come off as threatening as she had tried to make it seem. Toga may had destroyed the mask that allowed her to blend in with society in her early years, but she also wore a mask to play a heartless killer. Bakugou had seen her with that mask off, and now he could tell when she put it back on. "Right."
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"What do you mean? Do you know where he is?" Endeavor shouted at his eldest son.

"I'm losing the trust of my group so I don't know where they're keeping him." Dabi explained, "All I know is that he's safe."

"Safe? The boy got his fingers chopped off and you expect me to do nothing?" Endeavor slammed his fist against the counter, "The few side kicks I have left are beginning to lose faith. Some are afraid to lose their lives when they knew that this is what they signed up for."

"I'm sorry. There's nothing else I can do to help."

"All those fallen heroes. Was that the League's doing?"

Dabi turned away from his father, not being able to look him in the eye. "Yeah."

Endeavor shot him a glare, "Under your command?"

"Are you kidding me?" Dabi felt insulted. These past few months Dabi had been trying to drop subtle hints on what the League was planning behind his back or without his approval. "I'm putting my ass on the line for you damn heroes. I was the one who told you who some of the targets were so that you had back up to protect them. I already said that I want all of this to stop." Dabi knew he was the one who put this all in motion, but now he had lost all control and didn't know what to do. He wanted to protect his brother, but the only way he could do that was with the help of his father.

"I apologize." Endeavor scraped his hands over his face. There was so much chaos that he didn't even know how to start making things better. This would have never happened if he didn't try using his children to fulfill his ambition. "All of this is my fault."

"Yeah." Dabi agreed, "But it's not all on you, Old Man so don't give yourself all the credit. You were just a pawn in the game. It's no longer about The Family anymore." He thought back to his siblings and mother. He wondered how they were doing, it's been a while since they've talked. "Like I said in the past, it's much bigger than us."

"Speaking of which, have you heard from your brother? I was informed that he isn't seen at the dorms anymore and he's never home either." Endeavor sat down in the living room and opened up his laptop to check his emails. Everyday it was either more citizens destroying their cities with support weapons, riots that needed to be controlled, heroes being killed. So much was breaking but there was nobody strong enough to fix it.

"Uh..." Dabi scratched the back of his neck, "He's fine. I talk to him every now and then."

"At least he's smart enough to stay out of trouble. The Shin Sekai is bringing a lot of awareness to many issues within hero society. They've even been keeping peace and bringing people together. Shouto... he's... doing so good."

If you only knew. "Yeah... He's a uh- he's a good kid." Dabi couldn't let it slip what Shouto and his group was really doing. The League would know it was him that was leaking information to the heroes and that wouldn't be good at all. It was too risky to tell Endeavor, so leaving him in the dark about Shouto's true goal is what's best for now.
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"Everyone ready?" Shouto looked over at the monitors and spotted everyone's locations. "Remember, this is all for the cause."