Ice, Fire, Love, Explosion: Season 2 | My Hero Academia

Chapter 18: Butterfly

3rd Person POV

Shoto and Vanessa walked up to the prison facility where the rest of the Todoroki family were waiting for them. Having just finished their walk from the train station, the teens were still dressed in their school uniforms and wearing their backpacks, since they left school as soon as last period finished.

"We said you didn't have to come...!" Fuyumi worriedly told the two teens approaching them, her eyes shimmering with concern as they watched Vanessa. Her emerald eyes met those turquoise ones, and she forced a small, reassuring smile... but Fuyumi could easily tell it was fake.

"I would say the same to you two." Rei looked to her daughter and Natsuo, who was standing beside Fuyumi. "But, Mom..." Fuyumi tried to express her concerns, but found herself unable to speak.

"And the same also goes for you, Rei." Endeavor spoke up from next to Rei, and she looked down at her husband. Following his battle with his eldest son, his face and body have been severely burned. As of currently, his face was heavily bandaged, with significant burns still visible, and he was no longer able to stand on his own, requiring a wheelchair to get around rip bozo sucks to suck.

"We're not all here out of a sense of duty, right?" Shoto stated as he grabbed the strap over his shoulder and removed his book bag. Vanessa hummed in response, removing her own backpack off her shoulders and catching it in her arms.

While the officier let the adults into the room, Rei wheeling in her husband, the teen couple placed down their bags against the wall next to the door, the officier still standing in the doorway and simultaneously watching those who had entered the room and the two were still outside.

Placing her backpack down next to her boyfriend's book bag, Vanessa placed her hands on her thighs and lifted herself up onto her knees— She froze when her cheeks were suddenly grasped by a pair of blazing and freezing hands, and her face was turned to meet with a pair of concerned turquoise and grey eyes. Shoto stared intensely into her worried eyes, their noses only a mere centimeter apart.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?"

"Y-Yeah..." Vanessa responded without thinking as she blinked in shock... But then, she huffed a chuckle with a pained smile, her eyes sparkling with love. "I'm scared Toya's gonna scold me..."

Shoto softly exhaled through his slightly parted lips. "If he does..." His hands fell from her cheeks and they now fully stood up together. The dual haired boy gave her a reassuring smile, wrapping his arm tightly around her waist, "I'm here with you. And I'll never leave your side. I'll hold you close to me."

And so, side by side, his arm tightly wrapped around her waist... Shoto and Vanessa entered the room and stood alongside the rest of the teen boy's family.

Before Vanessa and the Todoroki family was the family's eldest son, Toya, fully contained inside a life support system. His entire body was bound inside, and the only parts of him that were visible were his eyes, which were somehow restored, and his mouth.

Shutting the door behind him, the officer approached the family, "He can speak, but only for a few minutes per day. It's a slow march toward death that Toya Todoroki is now facing."

Shoto solemnly stared up at his big brother. And next to him, Vanessa quietly sniffled and rushed her fingertips to her eyes to frantically wipe away the tears beginning to surface. Seeing Toya like this... hurt.

...Toya slowly opened his eyes.

"The gang's all here..." Toya spoke, his voice drastically raspy and barely audible. Then, his eyes slightly widened when he noticed the tiny brunette standing next to his youngest brother behind his father's wheelchair. "Even Vanessa...?" The teen girl's heartbeat drastically picked up the pace as a soft gasp escaped her lips, while Toya mustered a chuckle within a scoff. "Haha... I ain't some damn tourist attraction—"