Chapter Text
Todoroki Touya was finally free.
After 16 long years of abuse from his disgusting father, Touya fled from the fiery depths of the Todoroki household. He looked back at the estate and muttered under his breath, “Goodbye, you piece of shit. May I never see you again.” Yes, he would miss his mother and siblings, but even those familial bonds could not stop him from keeping himself alive.
-
This plan had been in the works for several months, but his last altercation with Endeavor caused him to finally put it in motion. Endeavor, Touya’s sperm donor that he refuses to call his father, had a day-long “training session” with him. During Endeavor’s last fight, the villain managed to get away, while Endeavor destroyed the surrounding buildings. He was immediately faced with enough backlash to challenge his #2 spot on the Hero Rankings, which predictably infuriated him. As a way of venting his anger, Endeavor pulled Touya out of his daily studies to practice his quirk. Of course, this was not as it seemed on the surface.
Endeavor quickly threw Touya onto the floor. “Get up,” he gruffly stated, narrowing his eyes. “Pick yourself up and face me. You may be a failure, but you can do at least that.” Touya, shaking from fear, steeled himself and lit a cerulean fire in his hand. Endeavor did not wait for him to do anything more before throwing a barrage of flames at him. Touya tried to evade them and mostly succeeded. However, with fire, mostly succeeding is not enough to save yourself. Touya sustained a burn on his forearm, causing him to cry out in pain before stifling himself with a look of fear in his eyes.
“You couldn’t even stop that? How disappointing,” Endeavor sneered out before throwing another attack out. The intensity of this attack was unparalleled. If the villain from the previous day faced this attack, it surely would not have survived, much less escaped. Touya recognized this and did the only thing he could think of; he lit up in a ball of fire, with heat high enough to vaporize the toughest of metals. Endeavor yelled in surprise, then met this last-ditch effort with a wave of his own quirk. While the fire from Touya’s attack burnt Endeavor, it did not hurt him enough to stop his brutality. On the other hand, the mix of Touya and Endeavor’s flames destroyed Touya completely. His skin, which was already covered in burnt patches, shriveled and darkened from the sheer amount of fire. Touya screamed in agony. Endeavor kept throwing fire his way. Soon, the whole Todoroki family came running and witnessed the near-murder scene. Rei Todoroki, Touya’s mother, snapped out of her shock first and ran to call Endeavor’s contracted healers. Touya soon passed out as the pain and quirk exhaustion hit him.
-
His senses came back to him slowly. First, his sense of hearing returned after a couple of days. He awoke to the sound of beeping and quiet talking. He didn’t recognize the voice, though. He kept his eyes shut and listened to the rhythmic and peaceful noises for a couple of minutes until becoming coherent enough to wonder what was going on. He dug into his memories for what happened to him last, but could not place where he was. Next, he tried to open his eyes but was met with complete darkness. He panicked, scared of what could have happened in the time he can’t remember. The beeping sound quickened and he heard footsteps rushing over towards him, as well as murmurs from whoever was around him. He could make out the word “sedation” before drifting back into the heavy sleep that he was in the throes of just minutes before.
The second time he woke up, his sense of vision also returned. Because of his short time awake the day before, he had pieced together what must have happened and where he was. He knew he was in some sort of medical facility, though it was unlikely to be an actual hospital because his incident could not be leaked out to the public. Endeavor was already facing enough criticism that he would do anything and everything in his power to prevent Touya’s injury from leaking to the press. While Touya was furious that the general public would not find out just how terrible Endeavor was, he also understood and was slightly grateful that no one would know just what happened to him, especially with his escape plan. If the public knew what happened to him, they could likely identify him while he was trying to lay low.
After thinking this, Touya wanted to see just what shape he was in. He slowly opened his eyes and adjusted to the piercing white lights of his room, before setting his sights on his arm. What met his sight were bandages as far as his eyes could see. No spot of him was left unwrapped. After seeing this, the severity of the situation fully hit Touya. This could have killed him, as well as severely hurt his family. Tears threatened to form, but his newly damaged tear ducts kept any liquid other than blood from spilling from his eyes. “I...I could have lost them. I could have lost myself,” he said morosely. “Why did this have to happen?” he whimpered, considering his kind mother who had endured just as much as himself, as well as his innocent siblings. His newest brother, Shouto, would grow up with just one brother instead of two. Touya shivered then wallowed in his shock and sadness until sleep took him yet again.
After these two quick wakes, Touya started healing faster and faster. He saw his family soon after mourning what could have been, though Endeavor continued to keep his distance. “Endeavor-san is off saving Japan,” said his doctors. “He is needed outside more than he is here.” Touya acted sorrowful to the doctors after they said this, but rejoiced when they stepped out of his room. With Endeavor gone, Touya had time to revise his escape plan. This injury, while horrific, had also granted him a boon. He could use the cover of fragility to slip out the night of his release. All he needed to do was to plan exactly how he was supposed to do this.
-
A month came and went as Touya healed to a point that he didn’t have to live under constant care. Endeavor, though he refused to see Touya, insisted that he come home just in case the press caught wind of what had happened. He was still covered in bandages, but he was not in nearly as much pain as before. It was manageable, especially when thinking about his escape plan. The chauffeur came and brought him back to his residence, where he acted helpless and feeble. “I don’t know why those doctors let you go. You’re obviously in horrible shape still, Touya-nii,” said his younger sister Fuyumi, fretting over him. “Let me go get you something to drink.” “Thanks, ‘Yumi,” said Touya. He looked at her with love and pain in his eyes, though she interpreted the pain as coming from his burns. In reality, Touya knew this would be the last time he saw her while still being her brother. He cherished her care and vowed to keep an eye on her, even if it was from afar.
Hours later, night arrived. Touya announced he was going to get some sleep when his brother, Natsuo, and his mother, Rei, came to check up on him. “Goodnight, sweetie,” said his mother. “Yeah, Touya-nii, get some shut-eye! I got a new figurine yesterday, and I wanna play with you tomorrow!” Natsuo cheerily said before kissing him on the cheek. “Of course, Natsu. We’re gonna have a great time tomorrow.” Touya looked at his family members fondly. “I love you guys a lot, you know that right? Same goes for ‘Yumi and little Shou. No matter what happens, that will remain true, okay?” said Touya. “How many painkillers are you taking?” said Rei with a smile across her tired face. “Of course we know that sweetheart. Now rest up!” She turned off the lights and Touya pulled the blankets over his head.
He listened to their retreating footsteps before hopping out of bed. He opened his drawers to collect the materials he had been gathering for this day. “Clothing? Check. Cans of food? Also check. Money? Check, check, check. I’ll just add in some medical supplies and call that good,” he mumbled. He then put on his warmest hoodie and some comfortable shoes before opening his window. Thankfully, his room was on the first floor, making the drop less daunting. Nonetheless, he still had to jump 10 feet before running the full acre of land that his father owned, all while avoiding the alarms spread across the property. “Here goes nothing!”
Touya jumped and landed in a roll, ingrained into him from years of practice with Endeavor. He didn’t even stop to think before sprinting across the property, hiding under every bush, statue, and tree he could find. He moved as stealthily as he could, making his way to the looming fence surrounding the property. “Let’s hope this is the end of the hard part,” he thought as he grabbed onto the metal poles. He slowly climbed, trying to be as careful as he could. Eventually, he got to the top and jumped. The feeling of concrete on the other side of the fence gave him immense joy, as he knew that he was free from Endeavor’s clutches from here on out. Touya started jogging into the more populated area of the city to make it more difficult to find him. As the large stuffy houses faded into towering metal buildings, Touya decided to take a quick break. He walked into a large alleyway to catch his breath and grab a drink of water. As he stood there panting, he failed to notice what was happening further into this alleyway.
While Touya chugged his bottle of water, his adrenaline rush also started to go down. The sound of his heartbeat quieted, but in turn, he heard the sound of a woman yelling. He looked up and further down the alleyway, where the screams were coming from. There, he saw a large man with some sort of knife quirk threatening a woman, who was carrying a small bundle. While he was sorry for that woman, he knew he couldn’t fight off such an imposing figure. Touya prepared to leave when the bundle made a noise similar to a gurgle. He imagined his youngest brother Shouto in that woman’s arms and realized just what she was holding. Before he could leave this alleyway and get back to his great escape, he ran towards the woman and her child and yelled, “No! Stop!”