She stood stunned in the hallway, echoes of cheering fans carried throughout the building.

"Hey Emi, it's been a while," the fabled boy from her childhood said as he stared up at her.

"Y-you, how can," tears stinging her eyes as feelings she long since buried forced their way up as memories of long forgotten times came rushing back.

Emi Todoroki was a shy girl; her parents having raised her on old Japanese traditions. She grew up in a large home, it was ancestral her parents said, her legacy stretched back centuries. Because of this she had few friends, real friends, a lot of other boys were around her simply because they were either distant family or the children of business partners.

Except for one boy, a small child around her age with unruly green hair and, in her opinion, the cutest freckles. She always had trouble saying his name, so he was her little green, her Midori. She would sneak out and play with him every chance she got.

She turned four and like the rest of her family developed her fire quirk, she began her training and as such couldn't see her little green as much, but he was always there, somehow, when she got away to play.

Emi was home schooled, so she would always ask Midori what it was like to be around other children and her friend would chuckle and rub his arm. Never giving a real answer, always deflecting or some noncommittal words. Emi was a smart girl she was pretty sure her friend was being bullied, and that he was probably quirkless, since he never showed his or talked about it.

A lot of times the boy was very quiet, content to just sit in her presence. But there was always one topic of conversation that he would never stay quiet about, heroes. He was fascinated with heroes, new ones debuted almost weekly and he was always so excited. But he had strange ways of expressing it, using phrases like, "I'm so glad I got to them debut in person," or how their costumes had that classic style.

Sure, if she were more interested she might have questioned the boy about why he talked about heroes like that.

But Emi was happy.

Until the day he disappeared.

She couldn't be too mad at him, despite how angry she was. It was the weekend and the two children had been going to get ice cream. Emi had snuck out after a month, since her parents and tutors noticed that she would sneak out they had been much more vigilant, so she didn't get to see her friend all too often anymore.

She eagerly licked at her triple scoop cone, a sweet treat she would never have been allowed at home. Her friend held her hand as she blushed, he was her first crush.

Then it changed, a building began burning, people were screaming. A mother begging for help that her baby was still in the building, crying could somehow be heard over the roaring inferno. Emi froze, what could she do, she had a fire quirk, but it didn't let her control other fire, just her own.

Noticing a second later that her friend had let go of her hand and was running into the building. Her quirkless friend was going to try and save someone.

She watched for a few second before everything went wrong. The news would later report that a gas line finally burst and that the building was already compromised, which is why it came down in that fiery explosion.

The boy was gone, her friend dead for trying to be a hero, because she, someone who does not fear flames, didn't take action.

She vowed to get stronger, to be the Number One Hero, in his honor.

Somethings changed along the way, she became more vicious with her training, pushing her body to limits beyond that of anyone else. It didn't matter that her quirk was just fire, she had to be stronger than those with strength enhancing quirks, faster than those with mutations. Then he showed up, All Might, comes out of nowhere one day, stronger, faster, more likable than any hero ever seen before.

She was furious, she took down more criminals than before, she got tough on crime, earning her a nasty reputation. But it was never enough. He was always one step ahead.

So she gave up, she knew she could never beat him, but a stronger child could, so she found donors, people with quirks that were compatible to hers, spent millions to have children that she hoped would one day surpass All Might, her hatred of the man blinding her to the original purpose she had laid out before herself.

Then her fourth child, a perfect specimen of power, containing all the burning power of her own fire, with the chilling devastation of ice. She trained that child to the brink of insanity.

When her legacy was burned, scarred by boiling water, it mattered not. That the child dared defy her and refuse to use her power, was inconceivable. But it didn't matter, when her heir would start at U.A. they would have to grow their power more.

But now, Emi had prepared to confront that boy that would be facing her daughter, she would demand that they push her to her limits.

Seeing the boy turn around to face her, she froze, in fear, joy, shame.

"Emi," Izuku said as he slowly walked up to the nervous woman, his old friend. "It's okay, I came back. I'm sorry I had to go away," he tenderly wrapped the shaking woman in a hug.

"H-how, y-you d-died," Emi's own arms slowly embracing her childhood friend.

Izuku shook his head, "No, I'm really sorry I had to leave, but I was needed elsewhere, and I just didn't know how to say goodbye."

"How did you survive?" Emi inquired as tears rolled down her face.

"I have a quirk, it's very strong, probably the most powerful quirk ever," Izuku whispered. "I'm a time traveler. It hurt me so much to not be able to see you, I missed you growing up, to see the amazing woman you have become."

Emi whimpered, "I'm not the girl you used to know, I've become, I am broken."

Izuku tilted her head down to look into his eyes, "Emi, my Emi is not broken, she's just a shy girl who loves ice cream and she sneaks out on the weekend to see her Little Green."

"I hurt people Midori," Emi growled, her feelings of self-hatred bubbling up as she recalled how she treated everyone in her family, her friends and colleagues. "I hurt my daughter."

"I know, Todoroki has scars, so do you," Izuku replied. "And it's my job to fix those scars, because I put the first one on you and I am so so sorry for that."

"Help my daughter Little Green, be the hero I could never become," Emi cried as she fell to her knees.

"You're an amazing person Emi," Izuku said as he put a kiss on her lips. "Never doubt that you are a hero, you just got lost somewhere along the way and need a little help getting back on the right path. I promise after this I won't leave again."

Emi Todoroki, Pro-Hero Endeavor watched as the boy she loved, walked out on to the stage and saved her daughter from herself.


Author's Notes: I don't know if I want to do anything with this or not.

Might just be a one shot, that I put out in between other stories.