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Pointless!
That was the first thought that entered Touya's head upon hearing Skeptic's information. It was annoying enough that a scowl managed to escape his charred mouth. His body burned even worse than before thanks to copying Shoto's Phosphor move. His own fault he would admit, but after losing once and knowing he'd be locked up afterwards with no chance of escape and no chance to face his father the way he wanted (especially with his shortened lifespan), he was left with little choice and nothing to lose.
Not that it mattered since Endeavour was a long way away from his location. Even if, and this is by some miracle, he did make it all the way there, his body and mind were too far gone for him to fight the way he wanted and he'd die pretty quickly.
His flames burned even hotter than before as they danced across all of Kamino Ward, a small part of Japan but with great significance. It was the place where the League of Villains first started and was based, where a Nomu factory had been raised, but most importantly, it was the site of All Might made his final stand as a hero against All for One (AFO). The two shreds of irony from this were not lost on Touya.
First, the fact that he contributed to Kamino happening led to All Might retiring and his father finally becoming the No. 1 Hero just (but not totally) like he wanted. It hadn't been his or Shoto's debuts as heroes (not that he'd been given a chance), or his own efforts, it was on a technicality.
And second, as All Might's existence had been the reason Endeavour strove for a quirk marriage (thus making him the reason he and his siblings were born), Dabi's final battle and death as a villain would be in the place of the man's final battle as a hero.
And he was saying death because he had absolutely no intention of letting the heroes capture him.
Beautiful!
Was what Touya thought about his flames as they continued to scorch the earth consuming and cremating everything in their path.
It was a weird thought to have in this situation. Maybe it was because of the adrenalin, delirium, or just the fact that he was about to die, but it was still weird regardless.
Despite all the destruction and death his flames caused, Touya had always found them to be beautiful. At least in colour.
He remembered the first time he had manifested them on Sekoto Peak. It was a cold yet starry night in Winter. His father working (as usual), his mother looking after Shoto, while Natsuo and Fuyumi were off doing their own thing. He'd been training in secret for a long time (five years to be exact) steadily increasing the temperature of his fire as he had been taught to make it stronger. He'd gotten a few burns in the process but he covered them up so no one would know.
Every time he trained, every time he increased the heat, every time he shot a straight blast at the dummies, it got him more and more excited. The strength of his quirk was tied directly to his emotions, meaning the stronger they were the stronger his flames became.
It all happened in an instant.
He was more excited than usual because he believed he was making progress (which he was) that the next fire blast he launched turned blue mid-air.
He'd momentarily frozen as the dummy was now enveloped by a bright blue fire.
And at that moment, he forgot about everything. His father, his mother, his siblings, his goals, and focused solely on the blue fire he had produced.
Beautiful!
It was unlike anything he had ever produced. It felt hotter than normal, but it was just so pretty to look at.
When he managed to do it again and again, he was ecstatic. He could finally show his father he wasn't a failure. He could finally be a great hero like he wanted him to be. He would finally love him and look at him like he used to. Things could be just like they were before.
It was a child's dream. And he was a child.
His father wasn't happy. He yelled at him for practising. He hit Mom for not stopping him and shouted at her. Then she broke and was sent away after scarring Shoto. His father didn't show up causing him to break down and spontaneously combust at the temperature of 2000 degrees Celsius. He couldn't turn it off or cool down either as he had only ever been taught to turn up the heat, not the safety measures. Thus, resulting in his near death and current condition.
Even so, Touya still thought they were beautiful.
Failure!
Was what Touya thought about himself in general. His whole life he had been considered nothing but a failure by everyone around him.
His father deemed him a failure when his body and quirk became defective, and he couldn't surpass All Might like he wanted. He wouldn't look at him after that, avoided him at every possible opportunity. He didn't want him as a successor and had more children to replace him, finally hitting the jackpot with Shoto.
His classmates deemed him a failure because his quirk hurt him constantly. They said he could never be a hero with a quirk like that, and laughed at him for it.
AFO of all people deemed one because he couldn't function properly after he'd been brought back. His organs damaged, his nervous system impaired, and his physical state weaker. In short, he was even more defective than before.
Even the heroes seemed to consider him one. They never considered him to be a high enough threat to be wary of. Shigaraki and Twice had been the only ones they'd focused on while he was just a background character.
Even now, his father considered him one. No matter how dangerous or villainous he became, in the end, Endeavour sent his "masterpiece" and three sidekicks to confront him rather than do it himself.
Since the man's whole life revolved around being a hero, including his children, logically the only way he would ever face Touya would be if he was a villain. And it still didn't happen. Not before, not after the first war when society was in shambles, and not now at his final fight. Nothing he ever did was ever enough.
A complete waste!
That was what his whole life had essentially mounted to.
No matter how much he trained, how much he honed his flames and skills, how much effort he put into his own goals, it was all for nought.
Even when he had the tiniest of victories, the effects they left didn't last long.
Trying to get his father to look at him, becoming stronger, becoming a villain, tearing down the image of hero society. He had done so much and despite this, he had accomplished absolutely nothing.
He had wasted his entire life on things that would never happen. A failure to the bitter end.
I'm done!
Touya was finished: with Endeavour, this war, the League, and just everything in general. He was done! He'd had enough!
Spreading his arms out wide, he concentrated the intense heat around his heart and body as lines began to spread out along the ground, the heat intensifying further.
He could vaguely hear the screams and shouts of the heroes and Nomu. As someone who'd burned at this temperature, he honestly pitied them. He hoped they would go quick enough so they wouldn't feel anything.
He spared his youngest sibling a glance. Shoto was staring at him in horror while his friend Iida (whom he knew from the Sports Festival) tried to support him. Touya couldn't exactly blame him. Shoto had created that move specifically to stop him, and now it was being utilized in the worst way possible. He was surprised at the effect it was having on him as his fire resistance wasn't holding up. Then again, he supposed all resistances had their limits, not to mention the last attack he launched exhausted him completely.
Touya remembered the time he, Fuyumi, and Natsuo played ball together in the garden. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Shoto observing them with a longing expression. Had he wanted to play with them? Then Endeavour came along and dragged him away for training despite the child's obvious discomfort.
He remembered hearing shouts from the dojo from both Shoto and their mother. He remembered them with bruises and crying behind walls. Why did training become like that? It wasn't like that when he started. Why had his father changed so much? Training used to be fun. Learning all his super cool moves was fun. Learning to be a hero like him was fun. Why did it change? Why did he change?
Touya knew the answer. Because of him. He was the problem. Because of his body, he couldn't do the one thing he was brought into this world to do. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. But it was what it was, and he could do nothing about it.
If he'd been born right, would things have been better? Or would his father still become the man he was? Looking back on the way he treated Shoto (and he had seen), Touya couldn't remember why he wanted that back if it was like that. Perhaps he'd wanted his father to love him like he used to? What he did with Shoto though, it wasn't love, it wasn't pride, it was obsession. Cruel, twisted obsession.
He remembered Fuyumi and Natsuo's dreams. Fuyumi said she wanted to be a teacher. Then three years ago she had achieved it by teaching at an elementary school. Natsuo wanted to be a doctor and now he was studying medical welfare at college. At least their efforts had paid off towards something they wanted.
Obsessed as he was with his father, he did check in to see what they were doing with their lives once or twice. Where were they now? Probably with their mother.
Touya did not want to think about her. He hadn't been there when Endeavour sent her away. He had heard Shoto's scream, and then his father shouting afterwards. He remembered Fuyumi and Natsuo crying silently in their rooms because she was no longer around.
Touya couldn't remember if he cried like them. He definitely remembered feeling shocked. Part of him wondered if it had been his fault. It happened not long after he told Endeavour about his progress, and he'd hurt her for not "watching" him.
Maybe her breakdown was his fault as well. Their last conversation, their first in years after the Incident since she didn't know how to approach him, not that he blamed her, he said terrible things. She meant well, she was just trying to help him, he understood that now, but he still said horrible things, unfair things, to her. He shouldn't have said them (even if they were partly true), but he had been so angry at how passive she was at their family situation, that they just slipped out. He wished he could take them back. He wanted to apologize, say he was sorry, and tell her he was wrong. He wanted to do that when he woke up. But it was too late. Their last conversation would forever be him resenting her. Their relationship forever broken.
She deserved better. They all did. But he had damned them with that recording. Some son and brother he was.
Why am I alive?
Touya was genuinely curious as to how his body was still active despite all the damage he had sustained.
Ujiko said he shouldn't have lasted a month after breaking out of the Orphanage, yet he was still here. The man had theorized the hate he held for his father kept him. Touya was a bit sceptical of that one. While he didn't doubt anger, hate, and willpower fuelled his flames, he didn't believe they could help him physically.
Even as he pushed quirk and body to the limit, he managed to pull through. The fact that he was ice resistant instead of fire made him wonder why he didn't have worse wounds. Then again, why had the resistance only kicked in a few weeks after his quirk manifested? Shouldn't it have been there from the start? Shouldn't he have burned from the start?
Questions Touya had but knew he would never get an answer.
While he couldn't feel pain, he somehow knew his body was nearing its limit.
It was time.
He gave his brother a mournful look. And through some… final miracle, he spoke.
"I know what did was wrong," Shoto's eyes snapped to meet his. "I know what I did to those people was wrong, that it was my choice, not Endeavour's, I've always known that. Regardless of how fucked up my life, or I became, it was my choice." He steadied himself. "Just like this is. I understand you want to mingle Shoto, but I don't want that. I won't be captured. I don't want to return to a family that doesn't want me. I've had enough of this life. I was wrong to hate you for things that were far beyond your control. You didn't deserve any of that. I was wrong for how I treated the rest of the family. I acknowledge that Endeavour has changed, and it's nice that he did. However, I wish he did when it actually mattered, not after getting what he wanted." Throughout the exchange, Touya never took his eyes off his brother. "In another life, we could have been brothers. We could have been a family. I suggest you run because once it's released, there's no stopping it. Goodbye, little brother!"
Iida hoisted Shoto onto his back and started running as fast as he could. But it was difficult because of the heat and fires.
Touya spared one final thought for his father who was fighting against AFO. He never got him to look at him even after everything he had been through. If Hell did exist, Touya doubted he could show him there, because, with the way his father was now, he would go on towards Heaven. He would be the only Todoroki to rot.
Born a failure! Die a failure!
Well, at least he would go out using a move he created, though modelled after his father.
He concentrated the fire around his heart and kept increasing until it reached its maximum limit, his arms spread out. He then released the stored-up energy, unaware of the full damage it could wreak.
He then released it all around.
"Blue Prominence!"
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In the sky, out of nothing black mist appeared.
Hi there! Well, what did you think of that?
I had this idea, believe it or not, before the current chapter. I just wanted to get it out before the next one. It's where if Kurogiri/Oboro didn't show up so Touya decided to just self-destruct with his quirk since he has no way to reach his father.
As for the ending, that's important. You'll see it in full effect next chapter.
This will also be the only one with Touya telling the story (for obvious reasons).
Hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review!