Beware, this one-shot is not good for innocent hearts. :)
[Todoroki Shouto]
'I hate my life.'
Those were the words that stayed inside my mind after everything was revealed upon opening my eyes.
Life is definitely unfair. No, it's not just unfair. It's completely unequal, from the beginning of life to the end. People thinking of only themselves, because they had cool powers, 'Quirks' if you will, and decided for themselves to become heroes like the ones they had idolized. They think they are the coolest and most powerful when they have Quirks.
But in my case, a 'Quirk' seemed more like a curse.
Few may say that my Quirk is amazing. After all, my Quirk is a combination of Ice and Fire Quirks. In other words, the right side of my body could produce ice, while the left, flames. But that didn't mean it could be used for any advantages, as I have sworn to myself that I would only use my right sided Ice Quirk, the one I inherited from my mother.
I despised the source of my left side. My Fire Quirk came from my father, the second best hero in the country, Endeavor. Some might believe it's great to have a father like him. After all, Endeavor is one of the best, and you should look up to him because he's strong. However, it's not like that at all to me. I never, ever looked up to him, for he is the worst hero.
Well…not necessarily the worst, but the scoundrel merely chose my mother to use her Ice Quirk to make me. His masterpiece, his son that would surpass his rival All Might, the one who will finish The Symbol of Peace, the son he could be proud of, the son he created to use, the son who could fulfill his desires.
He only married my mother for her Quirk, nothing else. Now, doesn't that make him the worst husband and father?
Every time I resisted his wishes, which had begun when I was very young, he would hurt me for it, even when I was five. Believe me when I say I couldn't fight back. I was weak back then, he was too strong for my baby hands. And whenever he would attempt to hurt mother, I was always there for her, to receive father's attacks instead.
I could still remember how I would always cry in mother's arms whenever father got violent about my being. I would always say that I would never be like father, who bullied and hurt mother. And she was always there supporting me, comforting me, telling me everything would be alright and that someday, I would become a stronger hero than father. She also disliked father, and I knew she was suffering for me. And it pained me to see that.
Even if I was just gazing outside the window, witnessing children of my age freely playing and having fun with no restrictions, I would get pulled away from the window by father, and he would say how it was useless to admire those low level children if I became the strongest because of him. I was always jealous, I have to admit. I was always inside the house, and was not allowed to go out unless I had a reasonable excuse.
'Why had I been born with this life? Why can't I be normal like other kids and have fun and let the heroes do their jobs on protecting us? Why do I need to be like my father, and meet everyone's expectations? Why do I need to have this kind of life?' I asked myself these question many times in my youth. But then, I would think right afterward, I'll be fine as long as I am with my mother.
However, the mother I knew while growing up changed. No, she hadn't changed. She was always like that. I just didn't realize it when I was younger.
I was just walking through the small hallway of our house in search for my mother one day, when I saw the lights in the kitchen were turned on. Curious, I slowly walked toward the slightly opened door and took a peek through the bright crevice. First, I saw the kettle on the stove, releasing misty steam from the heat. Then I saw her back turned toward me as she held a phone.
My body froze when I heard her voice, but that wasn't what made my blood run cold. It was her words.
"Mother, I can't take it anymore! Shouto's left side…sometimes, it looks hideous to me!"
I felt my innocent little heart shatter at that moment.
"I can't take care of him anymore! If I keep raising that child, it'll be bad."
"M-mommy?"
I didn't mean to, but I accidentally called out to her. And the moment she turned her head to me, I became weak and terrified of her expression: Full of fear and panic and grief. My body stood still, and I couldn't react in time when she grabbed the kettle's handle and splashed its boiling contents on my face.
I was hospitalized because of that, and received a burn mark that covered the left side of my forehead and the skin surrounding my left eye. It was painful indeed, but I understood why mother had done that. Whether it was on purpose or not, the reason had to be none other by my father's pressuring her.
He's the reason why mother's life was hard. All because of his selfish desire of creating a child to surpass All Might!
Fuck, he wasn't even worried about my mother's situation, and even blamed her for hurting me. That's when she was forced to go a hospital. A mental hospital.
"I hate you, daddy! It's all your fault!"
I remembered screaming that to him and shutting myself in my room for the rest of the day. He didn't bother consulting me, and that was the time I thought of leaving the house for good. I left the house at night, when I was sure everyone in the household was sleeping, and snuck my way out of the place.
It was successful and yet, I had no clue as to where I was supposed to go. My parents never gave me a tour of the city. But I knew my way back to the house. However, I had no plans of going back.
I was all by myself on the street. Few pedestrians passed by my small self, and few vehicles zoomed their way on the road.
No one bothered talking to me, and that made me relieved.
Upon exploring the streets, I didn't realize until it was too late that my feet had led me to a playground. I looked in every direction, and noticed that no one was around. I've never been to a playground before, though I knew that they typically had swings, slides, and a sandbox. But what had caught my eye was an elephant shaped mini slide with a cave-like hole underneath.
I decided to go to it to investigate it. I walked toward the hole and abruptly halted when I heard cries echo from it. It caught my attention, and I slowly peeked in on who was crying.
It was a little dark inside but thanks to the moonlight, I saw a boy my age wearing a sky blue baggy long sleeve shirt and shorts. His hair was black, and had a green color on its tips. His face was covered by his knees while his arms were warped around his head.
I was deciding whether to talk to him or leave him be. I didn't know how to communicate with other kids of my age. In fact, this was the first time I actually would.
"Hey," I called out. He immediately flinched, and his crying had ceased. Slowly, his head rose from their place on his knees, and we made eye contact. He had teary green eyes and the more I noticed, the more I realized that his hair was completely messy. Geez, he even had snot flooding out of his nose.
"Why are you crying?" I straightforwardly asked him this, but he just started crying like a baby again.
It panicked me, so I sat in front of him and patted his head.
My mother used to do that to me whenever I cried, so I tried it on him to see if he would calm down. And he did. His cries slowly died back down, but not completely.
"I'm useless," Were his first words. It was muffled and sob-like, but I managed to understand it.
"Hey, lift your head. I can't understand what you're saying," I gently told him, and he surprisingly obeyed.
He looked at me with those teary eyes again, and even his cheeks were damp from his tears. It was obvious that he was trying to be strong and doing his best to not cry, but he failed nonetheless.
"All my friends have Quirks, but I don't. One of them, Kacchan, calls me Quirkless to tease me. He told me that completely useless."
This also caught my attention.
Quirkless? I didn't know that some people could be Quirkless. Oh, if only I had been born in his situation, then mother wouldn't feel pressured by father. And I wouldn't carry this huge selfish-desire responsibility that my father had given me. If I had been Quirkless, then everything that had happened wouldn't have happened at all!
"…Why? Isn't it better to be Quirkless than to have a Quirk that would pressure you?" Thinking back on it, I was an insensitive kid when I asked him that.
"No! It's just…I want to be a hero, like All Might! Who smiles even when there's trouble and saves people like a hero would do! Other kids who have Quirks…I'm jealous of them. It's my dream!" He blurted out with a burning passion in his teary eyes.
I felt like I was slapped back into reality by his words. I thought that he would be the same as the kids I always see outside, happy with their Quirks, thinking they'd looked cool and would brag about it to everyone else.
But here, this kid didn't have any power, but wanted it. Not to be cool, nor to brag it to everyone, but to save people. This kid in front of me right now wanted to be a hero, but he couldn't, because he was Quirkless.
I looked him straight in the eye when I asked, "Do you want my quirk?"
His eyes widened from shock, then he gazed at me with astonishment and curiosity.
"What do you mean?"
"I hate my Quirks. They feel like a curse to me," I uttered. "My right side can do Ice... " I showed him by making the grass on the ground around us freeze. "And my left…can make fire." I didn't do anything to show him the fire side. The idea of using made me feel like shit knowing I got from my father.
"You could have one of my Quirks if you want, or maybe both if you're up for it. I don't nee-"
"No!" My sentence was cut when he suddenly shouted that.
"What are saying? You should keep it! Unlike me, you were born with those Quirks, so you should use them to save people! You should use them instead of giving them to a stranger like me. Their your own powers!"
Snap.
At that moment, I felt something in me completely break.
He was…he was right. It was my power. Not my father's. Why did I have to carry such a burden on my small shoulders?
I glanced down at my right palm. That kid…I may have not known him, we were strangers in that moment, yet…he had no idea that he had just helped me. With just his words, I felt a huge weight get lifted, just a little, off of my shoulders and chest.
Glancing up to meet his eyes again, I told him, "You're right."
My eyes stung, and my vision became blurry. There, tears I couldn't stop began to flow from my mismatched eyes down my face like a waterfall, with snot from my nose soon following.
"Thank you," I said as he looked at me with confusion and panic.
Of course he looked like that. He didn't know my story, yet. But, it was a story to be told in the future.
I wiped the tears off my face before sniffing. "Hey, I'm Shouto by the way."
"I-I'm Izuku…Midoriya Izuku."
"Izuku…Izuku, then."
"Th-then, can I call you Shou-chan?"
And that all happened back then. That's how I accidentally met Midoriya Izuku. The first boy I ever talked to. The first boy, you could say, that became my friend And the first boy I, accidentally, fell for.
When I told him he could call me 'Shou-chan', he formed a cheeky grin that became really hard to forget, one which has stayed in my mind until as of now. And I'm glad.
But now, it's time for the present. For where were standing. We, the students of Yuuei, who were about to graduate and become pro heroes.
Students who were standing, while in front of us were the pro heroes, whose population has decreased drastically because of a certain villain as an opponent. Not just any villain that any pro hero could defeat. But a villain who defeated All Might and my father. The strongest heroes…have been defeated.
"Is there anyone who could beat me?" Questioned the villain, his tone hissed and rough. He had an odd monstrous face, but the rest of his body appeared human. He stood tall on the lamp post as he was surrounded by wounded pro heroes.
What kind of outcome was this? Who is this villain that has multiple Quirks; Black Hole, Disintegration, Sturdy, and Cursed Body?
Black Hole: When victim gets caught in it, they will be either lost in nowhere or die in the process.
Disintegration: When touched, the victim will immediately turn into dust.
Sturdy:The Quirk user's body could take any type of strong impact that will not harm him unless hit continuously.
Cursed Body: When receiving a physical attack, the attacker becomes unable to give his fullest the next time they attack, and gradually become weaker.
Who on earth could defeat that monster if physical attacks won't work? And even if physical attacks aren't used, then how would anything else even scratch its Sturdy body?
It was madness. Villains had taken it to a new, higher level when they created that kind of invincible monster. Everyone who was still standing, aside from limping from the other villains attacks, started panicking.
Now that the heroes above us, the strongest ones even, have been defeated, people went flip and ran for their lives, but got killed in the process of other villain's ambushes anyway.
Katsuki had received quite the amount of damage, yet he still stood tall, ready to fight. Iida's equipment got jammed and destroyed, and he became unable to fight due to some severe broken bones. The rest of them got injured too, unable to put up a fight anymore. And I'm sad to say that a few of the other students got killed, and some got sucked in by that Black Hole Quirk and disappeared.
I did receive some bruises and deep wounds, but I could still fight, even if my Quirks were reaching their limit.
I stood side by side with Katsuki on my left, while Izuku remained standing on my right. Izuku also received a lot of damage. In fact, you could've called him a walking bloody mess. But he was still persist to fight for our fallen comrades.
"How are we supposed to fight that monster…?" I heard Izuku mutter.
The three of us, who were still able to fight, were on our full guard. Now that we were at a complete disadvantage, we couldn't just rush things knowing we would die anyway. This might be it, we all thought.
"Deku and I will charge it over and over. That motherfucker's Sturdy Quirk's beginning to wear off."
I gave a side glance to Katsuki, who is surprisingly cooperative. But he was right. It wasn't the time to worry other things. Yet, the choices we could think of were all risky.
"It's difficult, Kacchan. Even if we kept charging that monster, we'd lose our strength in the process due to its Quirk, Cursed Body. And to make it worse, we might get sucked in the Black Hole when we take a second to stop. Continuous attacks won't work either anymore if he ever touches us. We'd turn into dust…"
"Then what are we supposed to do then?! We'll either fight dying or run getting killed, shitrag!" Katsuki screamed, clenching his fist into balls.
"Then…" I spoke up. "I'll do it."
"What?!" They both synchronized and I stepped forward.
This was the only way. 'I'm sorry, Izuku.'
"What do you mean, Shou-chan?"
"I have an idea, but it's a risky one. Since making contact with that monster would turn its victims into dust and weaken them, I could use my Ice Quirk as both defense and offense on it while my Fire Quirk would be full offense. Disintegration won't work on both ice and fire, but I've got it covered," I briefly explained to them as fast as I could. "Just give me a boost and I'll finish him off."
"Are you out of your mind? You want to kill yourself or something, bastard?!" Katsuki grabbed my shirt and yanked it. I could tell it in his tone. He may be all violent and crazy for any kind of challenges, but in his tone…there was panic and worry.
Was this the Katsuki I knew since Izuku and I met and introduced him to me? Was this the Katsuki I knew, who I secretly played with when escaping from the household? Was this the Bakugo Katsuki I knew who doesn't want to lose?
I have decided and it is final.
"No. Just give me a boost, both of you, and I'll finish him off." I assured them and finally, Katsuki released his grip from my clothes. He cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth.
I formed a small smile at him, my way of saying: 'Thanks for everything.'
"Sh-Shou-chan, don't tell me you'll-" I stopped Izuku mid-way of his sentence as I gave him a feather kiss on his forehead.
He went silent, having no idea what just happened. Guess, it was better that way then...
"Boost me up, Izuku."
Having no seconds wasted, the monster completely took notice of our presence. Izuku and Katsuki didn't waste any more time as I placed my feet on their supported-hands. We all counted one to three and they both raised me up, with the help of Katsuki and Izuku's Quirks.
I used my Fire Quirk to boost my speed when aiming at the monster while my Ice Quirk formed into a defense. The monster and my ice defense made contact, causing it to lose balance, so we both fell to the ground. The concrete formed cracks from the impact of his Sturdy Quirk.
"Shou-chan!" I gave a side glance to Izuku, who was about to come and help me.
I knew he wouldn't make it. Every risky decision requires a sacrifice. You can't achieve your goal without doing that. It's impossible. I had to do it. I just needed to wait for the right moment.
"You think you can stop me, little brat?!" the monster taunted as I kept my figure still above him.
"You're not going anywhere now, villain."
"Too early to celebrate, hero of a brat. You have no idea that you're just circling on my palm the whole time." he grinned, revealing his bloody teeth and psychotic eyes.
The wind blowing by suddenly got harsher. Gravity became stronger. And behind my back, a huge black hole appeared.
Exactly what I was waiting for.
"You're cornered kid." He reached for the lamp post and tried pushing me off.
"You're coming with me!" I raised my left hand and aimed for his as I released massive flames, causing him to let go.
I held onto him tightly so that he wouldn't escape, then froze his being with mine. Now, he wouldn't kill anymore innocent people. Now, he wouldn't hurt Izuku anymore.
"SHOU-CHAN! NO!"
I gave another glance at his face-My last one-and gave Izuku a sincere smile.
'You helped me back then, Izuku. You gave me purpose. You helped me wake up out of my sadness and grief. Now, it's time for me to repay you, my hero.'
And then, the monster and I entered the black hole. Everything went dark after that.