Endeavor blinked suddenly as he stared at the boot laces of his hero suit. His hands had frozen in the firm knot. His whole body trembling minimally on the spot, not understanding anything.
"Todoroki-san, are you all right?"
The man reacted quickly, startled at that voice, and startled the person who provoked her and tried to touch his shoulder with concern. He would recognize her all his life if that was the case...
The woman to whom he had made a stormy life... The woman who forgave him all his mistakes...
Rei Himura... Todoroki's.
He turned, catching a glimpse of a white-haired young woman holding a white-haired baby, surprised as a tear fell from the man's face.
"Rei..." He murmured dumbfounded, it was then that he stood up and without meditating a word, surprising her, he hugged her, careful to hurt the baby in her arms.
"T-Todoroki... Are you all right, what's wrong?"
She only noticed how he was still clinging to her, as she heard him sobbing quietly. It felt strange, weird. She wanted answers to a thousand questions she didn't even know how to ask.
"Dada..." It was the baby's noise that captured the man's attention, surprising him to see that this baby was none other than Fuyumi, his first daughter, and his first failure as a father.
"Fuyumi..." He murmured again, practically in disbelief, offering his index finger for the little girl's tiny hands to hold. Rei blinked at this strange affection on his part.
"T-Todoroki-san..." Tried the woman again to dialogue about her doubts, noticing how his still strangely confused gaze went to her and ended up lowering it sidelong for a second, somewhat ruefully.
"Enji... Call me Enji, Rei... I... I need to leave for a while..." He rambled on seemingly confused as he retreated from the house without further ado, returning to his usual serious face. She felt really uncomfortable in this whole situation.
"B-But, weren't you going on patrol? You were leaving because of that." She spoke again, confused by the sudden occurrence and how he felt so confused.
He paused at the door after opening it, thinking seriously about whatever was going on.
"I'll be back in an hour. No more... Wait for me, please."
And just like that, the young man disappeared from the house, leaving her totally confused as her daughter laughed and clapped her hands. The crying of another child woke her from her thoughts and she headed for another room after a sigh.
...
"Well, this isn't a dream..."
Endeavor sighed as he watched the news reported on the big city screens. The news announced about him, the first 20 year old in all of Japan, and how he managed to reach the second place as the best national hero in the ranking.
That day was when he found Rei and "bought" her.
For some reason, the young Endeavour was feeling really exhausted. He was visibly tired and didn't feel in tune with anything. He seemed lost and totally oblivious to how many citizens watched in awe and cheered before him.
Through his mind, the cries of encouragement, awe and devotion turned into Dabi's cruel laughter, or Shigaraki's when he disintegrated his body and killed him...
That horror of having lived full of regrets and guilt... Now, being at this moment, replaying everything for some reason, made him really feel fatigued.
All Might was gone. At least not as such. America was his glory land right now and until he returned to get his hands on the chaos, Japan would remain mired in chaos as always...
It was then that his eyes widened with realization slightly as the flash of a myriad of memories appeared.
All For One was dominating the country!
The horror of that man existing as king of the villain underworld. And not only that, but he was winning from the get go!
He knew perfectly well the number of things that would happen in several years... The fundamental one is that of All Might's wound. Wound that he showed him when he demanded answers as to why he was a skeleton back then.
His fatigue did not disappear, but he knew perfectly well that the enormous responsibility that fell on his shoulders was not a game. His family! Touya! Everyone's future!
A shudder overpowered him with horror, clearly remembering what was coming from that future.
A robbery. Suddenly, a woman screamed violently as a guy ran off with her purse. He snapped his teeth in anger as he knew what it meant, but sighed as he recognized that he could ignore his thoughts thanks to this.
For now, he had an hour to stop over 100 criminals around to renew his young body as he tried to think of what to say upon returning home.
For now, as long as All Might was gone, he should be the one to delay AFO from all that was coming.