Cold | Suicidal Todoroki

18 | Death

This story is not intended to promote or encourage actions/behaviors such as suicide, self-harm, abuse, violence, or substance abuse.

Day 112

Dawn was chirping through the horizon and dipping the clouds in a splash of pale yellow as Todoroki returned home from Bakugou's house. The sultry summer air hugged his body, but he paid it little mind as he unlocked the front door to his home and stepped into the pleasantly cool interior. Yet, as Todoroki slipped off his shoes, he could've sworn that he heard his name being whispered.

Strange, Todoroki internally muttered. There it is again. It sounds like it's coming from the kitchen. Have I lost my mind? Slinking his way towards the kitchen, Todoroki swiftly realized the source of his suspicions and enthralled attention. Oh. This is...not what I expected.

There, leaned up against the kitchen counter on the floor, was Endeavor. His head drooped low, his eyes were squinted, and his expression was scrunched into a grimace. Shaky, sporadic breaths slithered between his pale lips as his hands and arms spasmed every now and again. But, most notably, there was a gleaming, silver knife impaling his chest.

"Shouto..." groaned Endeavor again, but like a dying flame, his voice flickered as it was gradually extinguished.

I don't know what to think, Todoroki thought as he approached his father and soon stood directly before him. The person that's been abusing me all these years...has a knife in his chest. I would've thought I'd feel happy or sad, but I don't. His shadow draped over Endeavor's intimidating figure. I don't really...feel anything.

Todoroki crouched down to his tormentor and abuser without a shard of emotion being reflected from his eyes or countenance. He noticed the note beside Endeavor, and it was then that a revelation saturated his mind: he'd unknowingly witnessed Endeavor writing a suicide note.

Deepening his grimace with a grunt, Endeavor lifted his head ever so slightly, and in his twitching, turquoise eyes, Todoroki could see the agony swishing through them. "Please..." whispered Endeavor.

With a sigh, Todoroki offered his unvarnished response to Endeavor: "Do you want me to save you or end your suffering here and now?" His frigid eyes were unwavering and eerily composed; Endeavor's eyes must have been the antithesis to his son's.

Gleaming rivulets began to leak from Endeavor's eyes. "You're not...my son..." His chest flinched, and he snarled in pain.

"Even now, you're still saying that?" Todoroki murmured while scrutinizing his father's agony. "Would you spit out a different response if I took another knife and skewered your eyes with it? I'd have no problems with doing that."

"Psychopath..."

"I disagree. Well, it doesn't matter. You look like you're suffering. Do you want me to save you or end your suffering?"

A while ago, I would've surely been furious. 'What did he think gave him the right to escape from everything he did to me? Not just me, but our family. He deserves to be punished for what he did.' Now, other people seem like objects to me.

Endeavor was silent, but his eyes wailed with an answer before he could reply. "End...it." He dared not open his eyes.

Todoroki formed a thin layer of ice around his right hand and gripped the knife in his father's chest. "You're certain?" he inquired to reaffirm his next course of action.

Oh, I guess it would be normal for someone to cry, Todoroki realized while he awaited the subjugation of Endeavor's vacillation. That 'someone' being me. I think I can fake some tears. With that, he slowly began to squeeze up some tears from his eyes. Indeed. Then again, maybe it would be more normal to be happy. I'll see where the tears lead me.

Endeavor's gaze softened at the sight of his son's tears. "Certain..." he strained to utter. "Perhaps...you are still..." His words were skinned to nothing as his son tore the knife from his chest, and with a brief flash of panic burning through his eyes, he closed them, never to open them again.

"Goodbye, Father," Todoroki whispered to his abuser while averting his eyes from the sickening waterfall of scarlet pouring from Endeavor's chest.

I killed my own father, Todoroki thought as he stared at his right hand. It was his own suicide, but I still killed him. I pulled the knife out. I killed someone. I killed my father. He released a sigh. It doesn't bother me, honestly. Didn't I technically do him a favor? I gave him what he wanted. I'm still human... I just did what he told me to do.

Setting the knife with Endeavor's fingerprints on the floor, Todoroki thawed out the ice around his hand and stared at the fresh corpse of his father. He wiped his feigned tears and glanced over to the note Endeavor had written.

'Shouto, if you're reading this, I've taken my life,' Todoroki began to internally read. 'I beat you into a monster. I did enjoy beating you, though. For every problem I had, I could beat you for it, and I would feel better after that. Knowing you hated me and knowing how rebellious you were, it felt right. But I didn't realize that I started to beat the human out of you until it was too late to go back. I kept beating you because it made me feel better, but you changed. You grew into a monster. I know it's my fault, Shouto. I'm the one that beat you into this state. I am the one truly worthless here. Did my death make you happy, Shouto?'