History Fanfic / KarmaInRetrograde

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924609/chapters/34574417 Karma in Retrograde]]'' is a Manga/MyHeroAcademia fanfic co-authored by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmytheon/pseuds/ohmytheon Ohmytheon]] and [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistystarshine/pseuds/Mistystarshine Mistystarshine]]. Focusing on Dabi, or rather his former identity as Touya Todoroki, it follows his road towards rediscovering who he is and what led him down the dark path his future self took. It also has a prequel series of one-shots, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15993731/chapters/37314533#workskin Embers to Ashes]]''.

* AbusiveParents: Endeavor, as expected, was horribly abusive to all of his kids, either putting them through TrainingFromHell and isolating them from each other or simply [[ParentalNeglect ignoring them all together.]] Rei Todoroki was too scared of Endeavor to protest and gave up on protecting her children or treating their wounds after a while. Then she suffered a mental breakdown and poured boiling water all over Shouto's left eye. Endeavor has since begun to make amends and tries to be a better father to Shouto and Fuyumi, but Natsuo isn't having any of it and Touya is exempt for becoming a villain.

* BattleAmongstTheFlames: Dabi's and Shouto's battle is set in this due to their respective PlayingWithFire powers.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: When Touya was a hero student, he was a ChickMagnet thanks to his unblemished skin and good looks. As Dabi, he let his own Quirk burn him until he's horribly scarred and nearly unrecognizable from his past self.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Touya's and Bakugou's mutual feud. On one hand, Dabi ''did'' threaten to roast Bakugou as a way to get him to submit to the Villain League - an act shown to have adversely affected him in the aftermath. That said, Touya literally is different from his older self in memories, body and behavior: he really ''isn't'' Dabi - much of his personal angst comes from being ''horrified'' at his older self's actions.

* CastFromCalories: Touya's Quirk quickly burns through his energy reserves, forcing him to [[BigEater eat a ton]] to keep himself from starving. He mentions that this made him very small and sickly as a kid, which let his younger brother Natsuo grow taller than him even as Touya ate twice as many vegetables and more milk to make up the difference.

* ClothingDamage: Touya tends to buy cheap clothes because he didn't get much money from his father and his Quirk would usually burn them to ashes anyways. This also means that he has little sense of fashion, as he only sought out clothes that are cheap and comfortable since he'd destroy them soon enough. He's confused when all of 1-A is gawking at his RummageSaleReject outfit.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Touya was subject to years of TrainingFromHell from his father when he was three years old that only ended after Shouto's Quirk manifested. After this, he was tossed aside and constantly derided as a worthless failure by Endeavor, giving him serious self-confidence issues. After that, ''something'' made Touya drop out of U.A. and go down the path towards becoming a serial killer.

--> ''What the fuck kind of name was “Dabi”? It sounded like it was made-up by someone who was trying to be edgy.''

* FightingFromTheInside: Inverted and invoked. After learning about the nature of the de-aging Quirk, Touya expects Dabi be fighting to get back out, but he feels nothing.
* FirstNameBasis: He insists that everyone refer to him as Touya, both to distance himself from his father and distinguish himself from Shouto, who is used to being referred to by their surname.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Touya has trouble acclimating to the rapid changes that happened over the past five years. His youngest brother is now the same age has he is (mentally), his old dorm room is now Izuku's, All Might is retired and Endeavor is the now the new number one hero. Even his own siblings feel like strangers to him because of how much they've changed. He's also surprised to learn that people can now dye their hair simply by mixing it into their shampoo when there was an entire process for it five years ago.

* {{Foil}}: Touya and Bakugou have explosively powerful Quirks, {{Inferiority Superiority Complex}}es, and incredibly volatile tempers when pushed. Touya was considered a failure by his father and can't properly control his Quirk. He entered U.A. as a NiceGuy with the best of intentions but was forced into the general education course by his father. This ended up stifling his potential and led to the incidents that turned him down the path towards becoming a villain. Bakugou is a GeniusBruiser who was always praised for his talents by everyone around him. He earned the top spot in the U.A. Entrance Exam and is naturally gifted in both hand-to-hand combat and the use of his Quirk. Despite his abrasive demeanor, Bakugou stubbornly refused to become a villain and rejected it at every opportunity despite common perceptions of him.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Monoma]] and Touya encounter each other quite early in the fic. [[spoiler: Monoma ends up nearly touching Touya, before being brushed off. This is brought to a head in Chapter 21, when Monoma copies Touya's Quirk to disastrous consequences.]]
* ForWantOfANail: After Dabi's disappearance, the League of Villains is preoccupied with trying to locate him, derailing their plans to [[spoiler:attack Endeavor with the newest and most powerful Noumu, High-End.]] This trope also gets discussed, as All Might and Aizawa lament that Touya may have never become a villain if U.A. had been more receptive to his turbulent home life and problems with his Quirk.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Touya winces when he remembers Recovery Girl's warning not to burn himself with his Quirk, lest he be permanently scarred. His future self, Dabi, is covered in them, which Touya figures are all self-inflicted with his Quirk.
* {{Goth}}: Jirou, Tokoyami, and Shouji drag Touya over to a store they like after realizing that his taste in clothes was similar to theirs. He's uncomfortable with it at first because of the pictures he's seen of Dabi, but he rocks a black leather jacket and dark jeans well-enough to instantly catch the eyes of random girls. Lampshaded by Ochaco and Shouto.

* GreenEyedMonster: Downplayed. Touya loves Shouto dearly, but on some level he's resentful of the fact that Shouto ended up being the perfect one while Touya was tossed away as the failed and useless reject. His guilt over becoming Dabi does not help matters.

* HeroicBSOD: Touya drops into this after hearing what he becomes and weakly trying to deny that he could ever become a villain or try to kill Shouto.

* HitMeDammit: After getting one too many tongue-lashings from Bakugou, Touya just screams at him to blow him to pieces already because his future self is horribly scarred anyways.

* HopeIsScary: Touya is reluctant to latch onto any feelings of hope because he's just so used to getting it dashed, especially after learning that he ended becoming a horrible villain for reasons he can't remember.

* HumbleHero: Zigzagged. On one hand Touya is well-aware of his limits and isn't boastful about his abilities, constantly seeing himself as the inferior version of Shouto. On the other hand, he has a fragile ego and he can be [[BerserkButton set off]] if he's referred to as a "reject" or "worthless", as he's was desperately trying to prove his father wrong up until he became a villain. He also considers the students in general studies useless to him, as he continually aimed to join the hero course. He also hates stepping down and backing off when challenged, preferring to meet his opponents head-on.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Touya resents his old man for calling him worthless and tossing him, Fuyumi, and Natsuo aside and putting Shouto through grueling training. Touya also threw his classmates aside because he felt that they were worthless to him when he was aiming for the hero course.

* InternalReveal: In the first chapter, Dabi is nailed with an an age rewind quirk, returning him to his state at 16 years of age... Shouto's brother, Touya.

* LogicalWeakness: Like his younger brother and some others, because Touya's Quirk is long-ranged and powerful, he's less than effective in close-range and in hand-to-hand combat. He also struggles to fight in team settings because of how wide-reaching his Quirk is. He's working on getting over this.

* NiceGuy: Touya is somewhat reserved and brooding, especially after learning what he becomes, but he's kind-hearted and soft-spoken unless he's agitated. He does his best to remain on good terms with 1-A, tries to reconnect with the rest of his siblings and hates to impose on Ochaco, who he knows is a WorkingClassHero. He desperately tries to be good in an attempt to make up for his future self's crimes and makes it clear that he doesn't want to become Dabi despite Endeavor's and Bakugou's opinions of him.

* ParentsAsPeople: Under all his anger and horrendous abuse, Endeavour finally confesses to Eraserhead that he was terrified by the possibility of Touya hurting himself or his family if he couldn't control his Quirk. The man was traumatized when his preteen son almost burned himself and his sister alive in his sleep, and a doctor suggested Touya ought to be institutionalized for life as he obviously was too much of a danger to society. Of course, Aizawa points that Endeavour's methods to teach Touya control and restraint awfully backfired on everyone.
* PerpetualFrowner: Touya frowns and scowls constantly because of his rough childhood, only smiling when he was playing with his siblings and trying to comfort Shouto. The smiles he does manage to make end up as wry smirks. Shouto notes that Touya always puts up an unimpressed, surly expression by default. He can't even remember the last time he's actually laughed out loud until [[spoiler:he sees the results of his prank on Bakugou and hearing Shouto's deadpan comment on the scene.]]

* RedIsHeroic: Touya's bright reddish-pink hair and unblemished skin makes it difficult to draw a connection between him and his future self's dark hair and heavily scarred appearance.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Shouto has these as per canon, giving him a resistance to heat and cold in order to withstand his own Quirk. [[spoiler:Touya has the wrong one for his Quirk, inheriting his mother's resistance to cold but not his father's resistance to heat. Because of this, Touya is constantly burning himself whenever he uses his fire.]]

* SheepInSheepsClothing: Even after being taken in by U.A., heroes like Present Mic and Endeavor are wary of Touya and fully expect him to be a WolfInSheepsClothing who is faking the extent of his LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid punishment. Touya is in fact a NiceGuy (or at least, a JerkWithAHeartOfGold) who is horrified of all the things he did as Dabi and genuinely wants to become a hero for however long he can.
* SheIsAllGrownUp: A platonic version. When Touya comes to in the warehouse where Shouto and Dabi were fighting, he's stunned to see someone who looks exactly like eleven-year-old Shouto, only tall, muscular and sharp. This contributes to his own mounting confusion as to how he ended up there and Shouto's accusations that he's Dabi until Touya passes out. When Shouto and Touya finally manage to sit down and talk, the one of the first things Touya brings up is Shouto is now taller than him.

* SmugSuper: Dabi reveled in his power and used it to brush aside his memories of his family while considering himself above villains that were weaker than him. Touya hates it when he sees this memory and calls himself pathetic for taking pride in being a villain, saying that it's just like a Todoroki for to think that way.

* StepfordSmiler: When he was younger, Touya would always wear a smile around Shouto to ensure him that everything was going to be okay. It of course, was a strained and sad lie.

* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: When Touya breaks his arm trying to learn how to climb out of a window, Natsuo covers for him by saying that there was a hornet in the room and Touya fell while trying to get rid of it. Endeavor asks why Touya didn't use his Quirk to kill it. Touya lampshades the stupidity of this.

* TooDesperateToBePicky: Due to his tight budget, Touya isn't especially picky about what clothes he wears or what he gets to eat. He's perfectly fine with looking like a RummageSaleReject because his clothes tend to burn up anyways and he doesn't have any food preferences because he needs to keep eating [[CastFromCalories to keep up with his Quirk's energy requirements]].
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: The U.A. teachers and pro heroes faces a dilemma in the early chapters when they're trying to decide what to do about Touya. Legally, he's a wanted criminal and serial killer, and should be arrested. However, he's also a sixteen-year-old child who is technically innocent of his future self's crimes, and it would be wrong to lock him up for however long it takes for the Quirk to wear off. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight They eventually go with Good]].

* TragicDream: Touya once believed in becoming a hero who would overtake his father and finally bring his mother home. Somewhere along the line, he descended into villainy and becomes Dabi, a remorseless killer. For as hard as he's trying to learn to become a hero with 1-A, he knows that it's ultimately a futile gesture as it's only a matter of time until he reverts back to being Dabi.

* UnPerson: After institutionalizing Rei, Endeavor attempted to remove all signs of her influence by getting rid of all of her things and any pictures of her. He did the same for Touya after his disappearance. But he couldn't get rid of everything, like the scorch marks Touya left on the ceiling or the few pictures Fuyumi managed to save.

** To a lesser extent, Shouto used to be a much more inquisitive, wide-eyed and emotional boy when he was younger. Years of putting up with Endeavor slowly wore him down. Without Touya to support him, Shouto became TheStoic and socially withdrawn from his peers. Touya blames himself for this and apologizes for not being there for him.

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Touya can't believe that All Might has become a dried up husk of a man when he first sees him. All Might finds this both insulting and amusing, as well as confirming that Touya is in fact a teenager and not Dabi playing pretend.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Like the parent series, it features heavily here:
** Bakugou is obviously affected by his previous encounter with Dabi, which colors his reaction and interactions with Touya.
** Touya hates his father so much he refuses to use his money - this results in Touya, in his previous experiences, to pinch pennies to get by. As a result of this as well, he's not used to shopping for luxury - more practicality than anything.
** Endeavor is making an effort to be a better father to Shouto, but that does not erase the years of torment and misery he put his children through. Touya, who was absent for this, is still pissed at Endeavor for the last words they shared over the phone and the clear contempt Endeavor shows for him only worsens matters.
** His [[spoiler:weak constitution]] ''very'' much hinders Touya. His flames might be powerful, [[spoiler:but merely having a resistance to cold, not heat and fire]] means he burns easily whenever he uses his Quirk.

* IllBoy: Touya inherited his mother's weak constitution. Combined with his Quirk's massive energy requirements, he ended up rather short for his age and frequently became sick. He didn't get over this until his early-mid teens.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Touya's natural hair color is reddish-pink as a result of his parents' red and white hair mixing. He notes that it was darker in the past and can't believe the possibility that he becomes a candy-floss haired loser on top of being a villain when he gets older. This also explains why Shouto had trouble recognizing Dabi as Touya, as Dabi's hair is a dark black, indicating the Touya had dyed it at some point.

* YouWakeUpInARoom: Touya's perspective is introduced as him waking up in a flaming warehouse and wondering what the hell is going on when the last thing he remembers is studying for an exam.

* RealityEnsues: Like the parent series, it features heavily here:
** Bakugou is obviously affected by his previous encounter with Dabi, which colors his reaction and interactions with Touya.
** Touya hates his father so much he refuses to use his money - this results in Touya, in his previous experiences, to pinch pennies to get by. As a result of this as well, he's not used to shopping for luxury - more practicality than anything.
** Endeavor is making an effort to be a better father to Shouto, but that does not erase the years of torment and misery he put his children through. Touya, who was absent for this, is still pissed at Endeavor for the last words they shared over the phone and the clear contempt Endeavor shows for him only worsens matters.
** His [[spoiler:weak constitution]] ''very'' much hinders Touya. His flames might be powerful, [[spoiler:but merely having a resistance to cold, not heat and fire]] means he burns easily whenever he uses his Quirk.

* MoralDilemma: The U.A. teachers and pro heroes face one of the ToBeLawfulOrGood variety in the early chapters when they're trying to decide what to do about Touya. Legally, he's a wanted criminal and serial killer, and should be arrested. However, he's also a sixteen-year-old child who is technically innocent of his future self's crimes, and it would be wrong to lock him up for however long it takes for the Quirk to wear off. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight They eventually go with Good]].

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Despite his own merits, Touya has always considered himself inferior to Shouto after being tossed aside by Endeavor. After learning that he becomes Dabi, he begins referring to himself as a failure who became the opposite of everything he dreamed of becoming. He bottles these emotions up inside because he hates appearing weak to others, especially Shouto. This negativity built up until he explodes in rage after [[spoiler:Monoma called him a 'reject Todoroki']]. He also can't stand to appear weak in front of others, feeling embarrassed when he begins to cry and never trying to let his distress or fear show.

* ThatWasNotADream: After discovering that he becomes Dabi, Touya desperately tries to deny it, but Aizawa doesn't bother to give him that comfort.
-->'''Touya:''' No, no way, no -- that’s not me. I mean, look at me! I-I don’t… I don’t understand. That can’t be me because I’m right here. ''[looks at his reflection]'' This is a nightmare, right? I’m in a dream. This is a dream.\\
'''Aizawa:''' I can assure you that this is reality, as confusing as it seems.\\
'''Touya:''' That’s... ''[angrily points at the photo]'' that’s not me.\\
'''Aizawa:''' It is you.\\
'''Touya:''' ''[jumps out of his chair]'' Stop saying that!

* {{Adorkable}}: Touya is easily embarrassed when the female body is involved, breaking into a LuminescentBlush when it gets brought up or when a girl randomly hits on him. He's also endearingly earnest in his attempts to fit in and only marginally better than his younger brother in social situations.

* FightingFromTheInside: Inverted and invoked. After learning about the nature of the the de-aging Quirk, Touya expects Dabi be fighting to get back out, but he feels nothing.

* AbusiveParents: Endeavor, as expected, was horribly abusive to all of his kids, either putting them through TrainingFromHell and isolating them from each other or simply [[ParentalNeglect ignoring them all together.]] Rei Todoroki was too scared of Endeavor to protest and gave up on protecting her children or treating their wounds after a while. Then she suffered a mental breakdown and poured boiling water all over Shouto's right eye. Endeavor has since begun to make amends and tries to be a better father to Shouto and Fuyumi, but Natsuo isn't having any of it and Touya is exempt for becoming a villain.

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Touya can't believed that All Might has become a dried up husk of a man when he first sees him. All Might finds this both insulting and amusing, as well as confirming that Touya is in fact a teenager and not Dabi playing pretend.

[[caption-width-right:350:Art by [[https://www.instagram.com/mavzel/ Mavze]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Art by [[https://www.instagram.com/mucha.rt/?hl=en Mavze]]]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Touya resents his old man for tossing him, Fuyumi, and Natsuo aside and putting Shouto through grueling training. Touya also threw his classmates aside because he felt that they were worthless to him when he was aiming for the hero course.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Underneath his NiceGuy veneer, Touya is closer to this. He genuinely cares about people who bother to be nice to him, but he wouldn't be following others around or act meekly around them if he had a choice. Even when he knows he should just walk away from a fight to avoid trouble, he's still inclined to stand his ground and assert himself.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Unfortunately, Touya is more like Endeavor than he would ever admit: he possesses the same abysmal temper when agitated, has a similar hairstyle and facial features- despite being much leaner than the older man- and has powerful flames as his Quirk. It's explicitly spelled out as Touya is constantly using blue fire, his father’s most brutal and powerful attack in the anime.

* HumbleHero: Zigzagged. On one hand Touya is well-aware of his limits and isn't boastful about his abilities, constantly seeing himself as the inferior version of Shouto. On the other hand, he has a fragile ego and he can be [[BerserkButton set off]] if he's referred to as a "reject" or "worthless", as he's was desperately trying to prove his father wrong up until he became a villain.

* LuminescentBlush: Touya breaks into these when he's nervous or embarrassed, like when he's getting gawked at [[ChickMagnet by random girls on the street]].

* PerpetualFrowner: Touya frowns and scowls constantly because of his rough childhood, only smiling when he was playing with his siblings and trying to comfort Shouto. The smiles he does manage to make end up as wry smirks. He can't even remember the last time he's actually laughed out loud until [[spoiler:he sees the results of his prank on Bakugou and hearing Shouto's deadpan comment on the scene.]]

* SheepInSheepsClothing: Even after being taken in by U.A., heroes like Present Mic and Endeavor are wary of Touya and fully expect him to be a WolfInSheepsClothing who is faking the extent of his LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid punishment. Touya is in fact a NiceGuy who is horrified of all the things he did as Dabi and genuinely wants to become a hero for however long he can.

** All of the Todoroki's names are associated with something hot or cold.

*** Fuyumi's name contains the kanji for "winter".

* HumbleHero: Zigzagged. On one hand Touya is well-aware of his limits and isn't boastful about his abilities, constantly seeing himself as the inferior version of Shouto. On the other hand, he has a fragile ego and he can be set off if he's referred to as a "reject" or "worthless", as he's was desperately trying to prove his father wrong up until he became a villain.

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Despite his own merits, Touya has always considered himself inferior to Shouto after being tossed aside by Endeavor. After learning that he becomes Dabi, he begins referring to himself as a failure who became the opposite of everything he dreamed of becoming. He bottles these emotions up inside because he hates appearing weak to others, especially Shouto. This negativity built up until he explodes in rage after [[spoiler:Monoma called him a 'reject Todoroki']].

** Touya's name contains the kanji "燈矢", the first of which means "lamp" and the second of which means "arrow". The first character also contains the kanji for "fire" while the second refers to an object that's sent away and doesn't return, referencing his disappearance and fire Quirk.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Touya is horrified after learning of his crimes as Dabi. He doesn't understand why he went down that path and he feels that everyone is fully entitled to hate him for what he's done. He's especially shaken to learn that he tried to murder his youngest brother. He's also disgusted with himself for leaving Shouto, Fuyumi, and Natsuo to face Endeavor alone, saying that he should have been there for them and not run away to become a villain.

** All of the Todoroki's names are associated with something hot or cold. Touya's name contains the kanji for "lamp", which includes the character for "fire". Shouto's name is made of the kanji for "burning" and "freezing", referring to his Quirk, Half-Cold, Half Hot. Fuyumi's name contains the kanji for "winter". Natsuo's name contains the kanji for "summer". Enji's name includes the kanji for "fire" and "boss". Rei's name contains the kanji for "cold" and is homophonous to a Japanese word for "zero", as in "zero degrees" or "absolute zero".