A/N: Well, for those who are familiar with me. Been a while since I last posted something hasn't it? For those who aren't familiar with me. Well, I'm not all that impressive compared to some people on here. However, I hope you all find my stories to be interesting, and that this particular premise is enough to be worth looking into. Quite simply, this will be a bit of an ambitious work, granted other pieces I've done have also been said to be as much, if not more so. In any case, I hope you all enjoy!

Now, let's get on with this story, shall we?

My Spectral Hero Academia

Prologue

A world of dying heroes, a specter of a chance to make things right...

Enji Todoroki could be said to have many Regets in his life. If for no other reason than because of how he wound up messing up so much in his own life...

His did so much, pushed himself so hard to become number one hero of Japan. And yet all that he did seem so lacking in comparison.

It all seemed like it would have been worked out as well. The final battle against Shigaraki and All For One and the villains they commanded had been rather harsh, with none really walking away unscathed. Even if that little girl, Eri, had managed to use her Quirk to rewind various damages the various members of his Son's class had endured during the battle, along with other heroes who accepted her offer to help recover from various injuries. It could not help with the non-physical wounds they had.

Those who saw it wouldn't forget how heart wrenching it was to see Young Bakugo dead on the ground after Shigaraki pierced right through him, it was a miracle that the boy was revived in the end, but the sight of how haunted both he and Young Midoriya had been, and how both boys tearfully hugged each other, as though making sure that both were truly alive, Enji had shared a slight chuckle with Shoto when he saw Young Uaraka hold firmly onto the Green Haired successor to All Might and admit how she loved the boy, who blushed heavily and hugged her back and said how he felt the same way. The youngest son and Father had a tearful embrace as they mourned for the loss of Touya, Shoto telling his Father how his oldest brother was so much like how he was back at the start of the school year before he opened up to the rest of Class 1-A. He let Shoto be with his classmates, who seemed to become akin to a second family to the boy. Enji had a knowing smile as he saw his youngest son being embraced by the Yaoyorozu girl, who seemed somewhat exhausted but relieved to see the rest of the class alive and had an understanding look on her face as she let Shoto have a chance to let his emotions out...

Enji for his part gave a deep bow of respect to young Tenya Ida for helping Shoto and how they managed to prevent Touya from causing the city to be destroyed. The young Ida merely blushed as he returned the bow as best he could, having to deal with the fact the engines on his calves were destroyed following his excessive use of his quirk, thankfully the young hero wouldn't be halted so early, due in part to the young Eri girl that Aizawa had been looking after using her quirk, while Ida tried to decline, the girl seemed instant to help the class who had done so much to save her in the past. In much the same way had some of the other students who had been seriously injured during the battle were able to recover their physical wounds.

Even still. The mental wounds would not be something to easily recover from. Enji knew that well enough as he held Rei, who broke down in tears when Shoto informed her and Natuso and Fuyumi what happened. While his older son and daughter tried to keep a strong face. It wasn't long before they cried much like Shoto and he had along with their mother. The fact was that Touya was better remembered by Fuyumi and Natuso than Shoto had. And the two parents would never forget how there was a time that Touya was a smiling little boy all innocent and hopeful. While Enji tried to put all the blame on himself, to have whatever punishment he felt he deserved be inflicted upon him. In an astounding feat, his Wife and remaining children forgave him. Shoto himself stated how while indeed it was Enji's fault for having pushed Touya hard at first. The fact was that it was Touya himself who decided to go to Sekoto peak on his own and caused his flames to burn out of control as they did. And that in all the time afterwards he could have taken the effort to reach out and reconnect with them, and yet never did. Likewise, Rei admitted how she was as much at fault for how things wound up as much as Enji was. Natuso even said how he should have figured that Touya was going to do something that night but never tried to question his older brother enough to do anything. Feeling that if he had just tried to ask Touya, then perhaps Enji could have gotten there sooner and bring him back. Even if Touya would still be injured, then at least there was the chance to set things right. Fuyumi for her part was thankful how her family was back together, even if there would always be a void that Touya once held...

Indeed, in the following second year and third year things seemed to begin to recover to some extent. While things could never go back to the way they were before the war began, there was a real belief that the future was brighter and that things would improve from here. The HPSC had its dirty secrets and corruption exposed, and while the Public were understandably wary of the organization and the members that would fill in the vacant positions. It was Young Midoriya and the rest of the young heroes in training that helped ensured the public's trust and faith in heroes as a whole would be renewed. Everyone knew of the various hero students who fought valiantly to stop some of the worst villains Japan, if not the world at large, had ever seen in decades if not longer. Add that to the various incidents that Midoriya and his classmates in particular had intervened in. And it seemed like people would have not one but multiple symbols of peace to rally behind...

Even a fair number of relationships began to bloom, indeed young Yaoyorozu had endeared herself to Fuyumi and Natuso they had already began to think of her as a sister-in-law, and Rei seemed to be alive in a way that Enji had not seen in years when she interacted with the young create quirk user. Enji himself thought she was a fine young lady, and while Shoto had thought he approved of her because of her quirk, he instead took his youngest aside and say how he didn't particularly care what sort of quirk the girl his son cared for had. Only that he was happy with her above all else. It helped how the girl's parents had considered Shoto to be a good young man and worthy of being with him. It was times like that that Enji had thought about what his father would think of all of this. Haruo Todoroki was a good man, he had always struggled to raise Enji on his own. Which in a society like Japan, being a Single Father had only a marginal difference to how it was for single mothers. Both of them had struggled to be open and approach others. While his father was quite the workaholic, as much as Enji himself would be, his father nevertheless tried to ensure his son grew up well and it was clear how much he loved Enji. If only he could have told his father how much he loved him, and how much he wished he could have his advice on how to care for and raise his own children...

It truly was a horrible day when his father died during that villain attack one day. Enji was merely 13 years old yet seemed taller due to his above average height. His father died trying to save a little girl, one of his students if he recalled. The worst thing was that his father's attempt to save a young innocent life was in vain, as both were crushed and died underneath the rubble. It was both the day Enji resolved to become a hero, and the day he felt the greatest regret and shame in his life. He never knew what became of the family of the little girl, he wanted to hope that they managed to get past such trauma and try to live a happy life in spite of it all. But for Enji, in many ways he was still trapped in that scene. Even as he grew older, he was always plagued by nightmares of his Father's dead body, hidden underneath the tarp on the stretcher. Yet as Enji went on, it changed. At first it was merely his father claiming he wasn't strong enough, and then once he had his children, his nightmares would have his father berate him for how he treated his children, for how he pushed Touya too hard, how he treated Rei as little more than a means to an end, and how he saw Shoto as merely a project, a mere tool rather than his own son. While he always hid it behind a mask of indifference, after the final battle. He admitted his nightmares to his family. And Rei herself said how she had been plauged by such things herself, and while she did not regret being with Enji at all. She did regret how she wasn't able to get past such things herself. All three of the remaining Todoroki siblings decided then and there to put their parents into therapy sessions, with all of them making sure to be there, if only to ensure they would be okay. And while it was very difficult at first. Slowly, glacially slow, Enji and Rei both felt like they were beginning to recover in some way. That Shoto also partook in such sessions to work through his own issues at having to fight and in a way kill his older brother, often having Yaoyorozu accompany him to offer some kind of moral support was something both Todoroki parents silently thanked. Yaoyorozu admitted how she was the one to suggest Shoto take therapy sessions for himself, as she understood he had endured a lot. Something Enji personally thanked her heavily for. Saying how if she was worried if they would let her and Shoto be wed, then there would be no issue whatsoever. Much to the young lady's immense blush. Enji even went so far as to tell her that if Shoto wanted to have her family name over his, then it was no issue. As Enji felt neither he nor Rei did anything to deserve their son retaining his family name. Yet she surprised them by saying how that wasn't true. And that while Shoto admitted his parent's had not been able to do as well as they could have. He still loved and cared for his remaining two siblings deeply. And furthermore, he wished to ensure that his family name wouldn't be synonymous with negativity, of awful family life or controversy. But that he could ensure his family would not feel ashamed of their past. It made the two parents all the prouder of their youngest for the strength and maturity he had. Shoto said to them how if he did give up the family name, then all it would do is prove Touya right. And he had no intention of letting his eldest brother 'have the last laugh' as it were...

And indeed, while those among Shoto's peers were having blossoming relationships, it was not limited to just them. It was rather surprising to everyone when Yagi Toshinori announced that he would be getting married to Inko Midoriya, young Izuku was all but catatonic was it not for Katsuki Bakugo yelling at his, (friend?) rival at the least, to snap out of it and just congratulate his mentor and mother. Mitsuki Bakugo simply laughed and gave a smirk at Inko Midoriya, mentioning how she finally didn't have to keep up the charade of being married to a man that wasn't around anymore. Indeed, it turned out Hisashi Midoriya had wound up separating from Inko and Izuku for years now, with the mother and son merely acting as though it wasn't the case as they had enough to contend with in society, along with the fact that Izuku was formerly considered Quirkless for the longest time. Shoto did pout and seemed to grumble how his theory of Izuku being All Might's secret love child was pretty much debunked. It seemed the rest of his class was well aware of his theory, and they all had a good laugh about it. Enji and Rei both could see why their youngest would think that way. With how young Izuku always seemed to be so noble and pure of heart and self-sacrificing, aside from the hair and eye color, he would have come off as the child of the former Number One to those who did not know any better...

Sadly, it was during what should have been one of the happiest days for all of them that things truly took a turn for the worse.

The day when IT happened...

Enji could not forget it no matter how much he wanted to. It was the graduation day for Shoto's class. Both the now 3-A and 3-B classes had a grand and cordial time interacting with each other, despite the issues they had with each other during their first year that at times went beyond mere class rivalry it seemed, they were all happy and eager to begin their next phase of life as proper pro-heroes. To some chagrin for the likes of Enji and a few others, it was also a rather publicized event, while some amount of public coverage was to be expected for an upcoming Hero class that would graduate. That it was also the class of 'the new legends' as some had begun to call the class year that Shoto was a part of that was graduating. There wound up being quite the media frenzy. It was when young Midoriya had just finished a grand speech about what he felt it was to be a hero and heroics in general did it happen...

All they merely had to go off of was a malicious laugh, saying how it found the speech to be 'cute, but ultimately worthless in the end' when the world seemed to explode around Enji and Rei. All that merely did was signal an attack on a scale and level that made even what All For One and Shigaraki achieved seem minor by comparison. Or to put it rather simply. It was like the Apocalypse had begun...

Enji could only shudder as he recalled what happened. How he saw the devastation wrought upon Japan, how even the various other nations of the world couldn't do anything as the attack began at the exact same time. What was worse was how this new enemy seemed to be a completely different level from the sort anyone had faced before. When Enji had faced All For One, he felt a fair bit of fear, when he faced Shigaraki, he felt like he was seeing a would-be symbol of fear...

When he encountered that thing. It was as though he was facing the physical manifestation of fear. A being of pure and abject terror on a level that nothing else could compare to...

The only thing that made it worse was how so many heroes died. Be it the various pros that had been well enough established by the end of the war. To the newer up and comers that had only just begun to get their footing established properly...

But worst of all, was when those of Shoto's generation began to fall. Even worse when members of his own class began to just not come back.

The look of utter devastation on young Izuku's face when a tearful Camie Utsushimi, a young woman who had spent time around Shoto and young Bakugo, and had begun something of a relationship with the explosive blond, came in weeping and sobbing as she held onto a broken piece of his gauntlet, as well as hearing the anguished screams of not only the young boy, but that of both his mother and stepfather along with the parents of his friend/rival, to say nothing of how the rest of their group had been so utterly heartbroken, even more so when he spotted an engagement ring on young Camie's hand, which Mituski Bakugo wailed in her typical angry sounding voice how she 'gave it to the damn brat to give to his girl so he'd make sure to come back in one piece!'. It didn't get better from there, over time more and more of the young hero's began to fall, when that wasn't enough the various family members were targeted...

Enji would never forget the sight of the family home destroyed utterly. With nary but bloodstains and whatever was under the rubble to indicate that Fuyumi and Natuso had been there, the worst of it was that Keigo mentioned that not only had he been dating his daughter for a while, but that her last message to him was a message of a pregnancy test.

A positive pregnancy test...

Shoto had only been barely able to keep himself from breaking down due to the presence of Yaoyorozu being something of a grounding element. While Shoto kept things private in terms of his love life, Enji could tell part of what was keeping his one remaining son grounded was the fact that Yaoyorozu no doubt offered him as much physical intimacy for comfort as much as emotional comfort. He figured as much because that was what he had been doing with Rei since this whole thing began. He knew that the fact that he and Rei were having closer intimacy now of all times while the world was seemingly ending was a rather macabre one. He imagined that Kayama Nemuri would have tried to make a joke about how the end of the world was made Endeavor be willing to spend so much time with his wife. Though part of him was glad she wasn't around to see this. He imagined that she wouldn't want to see the students she looked after and cared for end up like this. He figured as much due to how utterly broken Aizwa and Kan were. Even more so for Aizwa when Ms Joke, or rather Mrs Joke as she rebranded herself following her marriage to Shouta was found dead and lifeless along with young Eri, the loss of the girl in particular was a serious blow to the moral of the former class 1-A...

And so, things kept going on, the situation deteriorated worse and worse, right up to how thing were right now.

"Hmph, is this really the best all you worthless excuses for 'Heroes' have to offer these days? It honestly feels rather boring dealing with all of you." The thing said. It's voice dripping with boredom and disdain in equal measure. As though all of this was nothing more than a game and that it felt like it had no real challenge to deal with. Enji wanted to be enraged, to do nothing more but to try and burn that thing until not even ashes remained. But he couldn't, because he couldn't even summon the will to have even a flicker of flame as he stared blankly at the lifeless bodies of Shoto and Yaoyorozu, his wife was right next to him, and she couldn't even let out a scream. To be fair, it wasn't like anyone else was much better. He was somewhat aware of a pressure wave from Midoriya using 100 precent of One For All, combined with all of his other quirks in combination with his enhanced strength. Yet that thing stood there like it wasn't even feeling a thing. Midoriya was the only one left standing, only one left alive to be more accurate. His face twisted in utter rage as he screamed bloody vengeance for Uaraka who he had only recently engaged to, her body dead and lifeless just like the rest of their former classmates...

He suddenly noticed the yelling being cut off and looked up in numb horror as he saw Izuku being held by the throat, the figure seeming to look at the young man in the eyes. "Do you see now? What that fool All For One was trying to achieve with that worthless grandchild of a late hero? He wanted to create a Symbol of Fear. But whatever a mere human like him could create would never surpass one such as me..." The thing said as Enji saw its hand slowly tightening its grip around Izuku's throat. The young man continued to try and throw whatever punches and kicks he could. But they grow more and more weaker by the moment. "I want you to take a good long look. I want you to see the world you tried to save fall into complete and utter despair. I want you to see how utterly hopeless the situation is boy. Because let me assure you, there will be NO heroes coming to save the day THIS time." It spoke. The thing spoke with such utter confidence of one who knew they had completely and utterly won, someone who had accounted for and defeated anything and everything that would try to go against it. The worst part was, it was all true. Yet even still. Enji saw how Izuku tried to resist. Even as the life was choked out of him. Until finally the young man's arms and legs fell limp, and went still...

He figured the fact the thing made sure that both Inko and Toshinori Yagi as well as Mitsuki Bakugo along with himself and Rei were able to clearly see it all unfold meant it wanted them to see the boy who inspired so much hope and done so much die in front of them in order to further torture them. He wanted to howl in rage as he saw young Izuku's body be thrown aside as though it were trash. But more than anything, he desperately yearned for someone, anyone, to do something. To let this nightmare finally end once and for all!

It seemed he wasn't the only one thinking that. And it also appeared that something out there was answering their prayers. As Enji could see two strange apparitions appear, the seemed ethereal, ghostly even. Yet even still he felt like they were solid unyielding bulwarks against the personification of evil they faced. One appeared vaguely masculine, the other feminine. "Oh? What's this?" The thing said as it turned its gaze towards the two apparitions. It seemed to recoil in recognition and fear once it took full notice of the two apparitions. "What?! IMPOSSIBLE! I THOUGHT I WAS RID OF YOU BOTH CENTURIES AGO!" The thing exclaimed in shock and clear rage at the etheric duo. It seemed to be shocked still as Enji saw strange etheric threads appear from the two of them, almost like lifelines of a sort. The strange threads had an etheric glow that seemed rather calming. As though it was to let everyone know that they were okay. Because they were right here...

Enji found himself able to move in some manner and tried to have a hand reach out to the thread closest to him. The thing seemed to notice what he and everyone else present were doing. "NO! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO-!" It screamed in rage, clearly knowing what would happen were they to make contact with it. Enji Todoroki didn't particularly know what would happen, nor did he really care at this point. The way he saw it, he was being offered a lifeline, a chance to have his life and that of others be saved. As such, he did the only reasonable thing in this situation...

He took it...

And everything changed...

...

...

...

A/N: And that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoy this opening prologue for all it's worth! Now. I mostly use my own ideas when applicable, however, I am greatful to have the okay to use the character of Hauro Todoroki based on the character written by AO3 user Grimmijaggers as featured in the fanfic 'My Fathers Warmth'. I highly recommend giving it a read for yourself if you have the chance! Not only will it give you an idea of how I am basing my version of Enji's father in terms of overall characterization and appearance. But it is also a very heartwarming story of showing just how much of an impact Enji having his father be around while he is growing up can have both on himself and his future family and hero carrier. Granted I plan on doing a fair bit more different with my take on events than what that story is doing. I wouldn't claim what I am doing is in any way better. But I do hope you all enjoy it all the same regardless!

Till next time!