Archive of Our Own

When an 86-year-old Enji Todoroki closes his eyes for the last time, he awakens decades in the past on the day Shoto is born. The trajectory of entire lives begins to shift. Tragic origins are intercepted, an unconventional group of heroes redefines a broken system, and those cast aside by society are given a chance to survive.

But stopping a fire is only the beginning...

• Trilogy Order:
  • Unburned: Either a miraculous second chance or a dying man's final dream, Enji Todoroki must navigate fatherhood again and attempt to prevent the disasters of the original timeline—without falling back into old patterns of control.
  • Rebels: Touya Todoroki alias Frostbite forms an unconventional, rapid-response task force alongside veteran sidekicks and misfits to fix a bureaucratic hero system before it collapses.
  • Homecoming: The big conflicts are averted, but the scars remain. A quiet, intimate character study exploring family, mental health, and what it truly means to build a life after being saved.

General Overview & Reading Order:

Welcome to Before the Smoke Rises (BSR)! This is a heavy Canon Divergence AU split into three distinct, interconnected arcs. While each book focuses on a different core character and theme, they are designed to be read in order:
Book 1: Rebels(Focus: Vanguard Action Squad hero AU)
Book 2: Unburned(Focus: Todoroki family)
Book 3: Homecoming(Focus: Healing, Family & The Aftermath)

Key AU Divergences & Worldbuilding:

The Time Loop / Dying Vision Ambiguity:In Unburned, whether Enji has truly been sent back in time or is experiencing the elaborate, desperate final hallucination of an 86-year-old dying man is intentionally left to interpretation. What matters is the choices he makes with the awareness he carries.
Interception of Tragic Timelines: In this universe, characters who became villains in canon (Tenko, Himiko, Spinner, Mr. Compress) were intercepted before reaching their breaking points.
Surviving Characters: Key character survivals differ from canon (most notably, Oboro Shirakumo).
Hero System Dynamics: Focuses heavily on the bureaucratic flaws of hero society, hero agency logistics, sidekick dynamics, and alternative methods of public safety.

Content & Subject Matter Warnings:

While this series is ultimately about healing, redemption, and family, it deals with heavy emotional topics across all three books:
Themes:Trauma recovery, psychological effects of abuse and neglect, grief, PTSD, post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) and memory loss, postpartum depression, body image/discrimination, existential anxiety, violence, gore etc.
Tone:Character-driven angst with a strong focus on emotional realism, eventual comfort, and found family. No main character character-assassination; flaws are explored with nuance.

Author’s Note:

This series was born out of a very simple, persistent thought: so many of the League's tragedies were entirely preventable. I wanted to write a universe where those horrors were intercepted before they ever took root—where the Vanguard Action Squad never had to become villains, but still got to keep that incredible, fiercely loyal found family dynamic they have in canon.
At its core, this story is my deep dive into the bureaucratic rot and systemic corruption of hero society, and a personal exploration of what it actually means to be a hero when the traditional mold fails the people who need it most. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this take on their lives!