Taming the Flames

Familial Inferno

Heroes——  Born to save lives, to lay their own for the safety of those they pledged to protect. Heroes, the epitome of all that is right and just, the symbol of light and good, visionaries of pure perfection.

Heroes are perfect… right? Are they?

Flames burst and give light, a source of fear for some and a comfort for others. They burn, they hurt, but they give warmth in the blazing cold. Flames bring light, but they cast deep shadows and make soot.

Voices were raised, words were said, words that have made their mark and can no longer be taken back. They're spontaneous and impulsive, angered and temperamental, and hurt.

The Todoroki estate housed flame users, but the house never brought a comforting warmth. The warm flickers of the flame of love rarely ever made home within the estate, but today seemed to be the very last straw for the arranged family.

There the Flame hero: Endeavor stood, watching the shrinking form of what used to be his family as they drove far, to where they no longer had to see him. Endeavour ⸺ an effort to do or accomplish something.

His goals, his endeavours. What had they truly been? To be a hero? Or to outshine the symbol of heroism himself? What exactly did he want to achieve? To be hailed as a martyr? To prove himself better than All Might?

Ah. All Might, the name that plagued the depths of his mind, an enigma that only ever seemed to grow stronger and stronger than him as time passed by. No matter how much he pushed himself, he could never seem to be enough. Was that his goal?

His goals, His endeavours, he’s tried every means necessary to achieve them and still failed, had he? What was he trying to do? In the end, in his attempt to reach a frivolous dream, he pushed away those who reached out to him, and in turn, lost his family.

Gazing along the interiors of the estate, everything was sparkling, cleanliness was kept as usual. But it was blemished, stained, smudged with a past filled with regrets and tainted with a future that could've been. A future with his children, a future with his family.

[===============================]

Cold, everything felt so cold, the freezing winds of the night passing by as a frosty reminder of the exigency he found himself several minutes ago. The sight of children playing with their families brings a burning sting to his frigid heart.

Their voices echoed, haunting his mind, taunting him for who he found himself to be, for who he used to be and never will be.

Alone a 4-year-old stood, eyes dulled as they gazed down at the ground below him. Curled into himself as the only source of warmth, tears dried on his cheeks, the words of his parents repeating themselves in his mind like a sardonic tune.

*Sorry kid, it’s not gonna happen, Izuku should’ve already manifested one of these quirks or a combination, but after viewing his x-rays, I don't think he’s going to. The doctors discovered a link between the bones in a person’s foot and the likelihood of developing a quirk. People with powers have only one joint in their pinky toes, while Izuku has two joints in his pinky, like roughly 20% of the population. Based on the research available, it’s safe to say that your son isn’t going to develop a quirk*

He can still see the gazes of his parents, detached, and disillusioned, while his sister was hailed for her quirk, he served as the Blacksheep that had spoiled her moment of joy. What used to be a hearty relationship he had with his female counterpart is a mere shadow of what used to be. Now seeming to serve as a chore for the young girl.

After months of cold gazes and disgruntled words, the 4-year-old decided that he would burden the Yagi family no longer, as he collected his essentials and snuck out from the window, alone and forlorn in the darkness of the night.

[==============================]

September 1st, the cold has risen further, it wasn't long after he had run away that he found himself taken into an orphanage.

He stared blankly out the window from his bed, despite being taken into the orphanage, the scars of of his family remained staked to his heart, their frost leaving an odd burn, like a cold flame to his skin. How cold.

Children around him played with each other, none made an attempt to include him, some would laugh, most would ignore, once more he is but a stain in the place he is in.

Home, what a familiar yet mysterious word, he once knew its meaning, but now he can no longer tell where it is. The Yagi household was a house, not a home. The orphanage was not a home.

He would see kids come and go, some finding their family, a place to call home. Others grew older, leaving themselves and making a home on their own. The latter sound pitiful, yet he felt it as if it would be his future, after all, who would want someone like him? Someone useless, tainted, someone broken.

How wrong he was that day, as the sun lowered and rose, a new day began, the common routine following through as it usually had. Children played without him once more, leaving him to gaze up at the sky as he sat under the shade of a tree.

From the corner of his eye, he spots a large man, his red hair distinct among the greenery of the garden, a new parent looking for a child. Nothing out of the ordinary. Briefly glancing, he could see the man’s face, wisps of fire serving as a 5 o'clock shadow.

“Here Todoroki-san, we have plentiful children with bright futures, just waiting to find a family of their own, over here we have Yuu, Sai, Zen, Korai, Kashima…”

The handler seemed to go on and on, with no plans of stopping his rambling about all the children playing with each other, yet he made no attempt to introduce the green-haired 4-year-old.

“And the small one? I would like to know his name”

Izuku could practically see the attendant go pale as the red haired man pointed to his direction. “Izuku? Ah yes Izuku. Ah well he's quite the odd ball you see sir, he doesn't quite get along with all the other children, quite the frigid one yes, not to mention he's quirkless” the daycare attendant rambled on, sweating bullets as his voice quivered, while trying to redirect the flame hero’s attention back to the other children.

“It doesn't matter, I would like to meet the small one under the tree”

[==============================]

Quirkless, the opposite of everything dhe’s ever strived for. He's done it all, fought for glory, clawed for Power. Power, the very thing that started it all, what began his ambition, his drive to improve, and the very thing that blinded him to his flaws.

Maybe that's why he's alone, he's been blinded, and he's forsaken the mundane in exchange for his blaze of glory, in a way the small child seemed to embody everything he's ever forsaken. No doubt the boy had been neglected, quirkless children are rarely ever treated properly, it doesn't surprise him that the orphanage tried to hide him away as well. It's a pity, not that he thinks about it, to chastise a child for something out of his control, it's a pity.

Yet he's a hypocrite, he'd done the same for his own children, and it drove them away, he can still recall his state a few months ago, standing alone and forlorn in his estate, he felt lost, meaningless, what was he to do.

For days, he wander in his mind, with no purpose in sight, he had lost his children and was left nothing but the hollow estate that used to house his pride and joy. After a few moments of reminiscing, he had stumbled over a pamphlet for an orphanage, it was from the time he prepared contingencies in case his wife wouldn't be able to bear him a powerful off-spring

Perhaps it's time to make use of the pamphlet.