The air was cold and dry. Wayward flames burned hot, turning the trees and surroundings into ash. Endeavor couldn't believe his eyes. Somewhere within this burning forest was his son screaming for help. After the final flashes of fire dwindled into nothing, authorities scoured the area for any remains belonging to the son of Endeavor. Nothing of his son was left behind except for a fragment of Touya's lower jaw.

Even with physical evidence of his death, Endeavor refused to believe his son was gone. There was no way. He was a Todoroki. Nothing could take them down. Even being an imperfect creation, it didn't stop Touya from fighting to become stronger. No matter how many times Endeavor told his son to stop it, he wouldn't back down. Knowing that instilled the hope in Endeavor's heart that his eldest son was still alive. He was out there somewhere hurt and afraid. Endeavor needed to bring him back home and let Touya know how sorry he was for ignoring him. He needed to say that he never meant to make him feel like a failure because he wasn't a good enough father and couldn't show him anything else other than the life of a hero.

Endeavor got ready to leave his home and already had on his hero costume from previous work. The purple bags under his eyes made it even more obvious of the fact that he hadn't slept since the incident in the mountains. Every time he closed his eyes all he saw was himself yelling at Touya to stop training and to give up trying to be a hero. He slapped harshly at his face causing his cheeks to swell red.

"You're leaving again?" Rei peeked from the doorway, rubbing at her heavy eyes. "It's 1am. Were you even planning to come to bed?" She asked, pulling her robe closed as she walked forward to stand in front of her husband. Rei couldn't help but notice the way he slouched and how his head hung low almost as if he was trying to avoid her eyes.

"I just dropped by to make sure you and the kids were safe and sound." He admitted quietly. "Go back upstairs and get some rest."

Rei clenched her jaw and scrapped her hands through her hair and pulled in frustration. "I can't deal with this anymore, Enji." She shook her head, "You need to stop this!"

"I'm looking for our son!" He spoke louder but tried to not wake his children who were sleeping upstairs. "I'll sleep once he's back home with us."

"You've been at this for a week. I tried convincing myself that this is your way of mourning Touya but he's g-"

"Don't you dare say it." Endeavor scolded with a pointed finger.

Rei reached up and took ahold of her husbands shaking hand and led him to the end of a hallway that she's been visiting every day to pray. Sitting on a shelf was a picture of Touya. Beside the frame were assorted flowers and two burning candles. On the shelf beneath the shrine was a white box that held a jaw bone inside. "Take a good long look, Enji. We have a tombstone in the middle of our house." Her broken voice shook.

"I told you not to make this for him." Endeavor growled, "Natsu and Fuyumi are scared of it. What do you think Touya's going to think when he walks through those doors and sees that his mother built him a shrine? He'll be terrified and think his own mother gave up on him."

Rei shifted her flare up towards her husband, "You know what, Enji. I did give up on him. But don't try to pin this all on me either. He wanted you to pay attention. Touya wanted your love and guidance and you gave up on him too. And now that he's dead you just now realized that you were in the wrong?"

"I already told you to stop saying that about him." Endeavor turned away from the shrine with balled up fists. It took everything in him to not destroy it right now, not even caring if his children would hear.

"And now that he's gone it's too late to apologize." Rei forced Endeavor to look at her by grabbing him by the face, "You need to stop being in denial about this, Enji. You're scaring me. Fuyumi keeps asking why you haven't been home. Natsu cries himself to sleep. You need to be home and make sure that the children you still have are okay. Don't run away because you're afraid to look them in the eyes because you blame yourself for what happened to Touya and you think they'll blame you for it too!"

Endeavor harshly pulled Rei's hands off of him, "I don't want to hear it. And that damn thing better be taken down by the time I get back." He turned away and stomped out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Rei huffed and held back her urge to scream. She looked back at the shrine and touched the edge of the picture frame before leaning down and blowing out the candles.
_______________________
Endeavor had already instructed some of his side kicks who agreed to work late to wander the city in hopes to find Touya. They all knew the boy was gone but seeing their boss, their mentor like this tore each of them up inside. They only hoped he'd come to his senses eventually and finally begin to heal from all this.

Endeavor revisited some of Touya's favorite spots like an arcade that he and Natsuo liked to play at on Friday's after school. Rei would give them each two rolls of quarters and instructed them to come straight home after they ran out of money. Natsuo had come home with a bunch of candy falling out of his pockets after Touya had told him it was stupid to waste all of his tickets on old Halloween treats. Endeavor remembers Touya showing off the soccer ball he traded his tickets in for and how he had only said "Very nice." Before leaving to train Shoto. He sighed and mentally cursed at the memory.

Next was a park that was a few blocks away from Touya's school. Before he had developed his quirk at the age of 4, Touya liked being outside and play at the swings. Rei would sit Touya on her lap as she swung higher to make her son laugh and point up at the sky as he tried to reach for the clouds. One of Endeavor's sidekicks was on patrol and caught a glimpse of his bosses wife and son and decided to snap a photo and send it to Endeavor who secretly saved it as his wallpaper.

When Touya got older he was mainly interested in training but there were a few times when he begged to go to the park on his free time. He still liked the swings but now preferred to walk around and search for "bad guys" and people who needed "saving". What should have been a happy memory turned into the opposite when Endeavor recalled scolding Touya for skipping school and going to the park to play heroes after he told him to give it up already.

Touya never did give it up no matter what his father tried. For Touya's 10th birthday Endeavor had bought him a skateboard in attempt to get him to try out a new hobby. It never replaced the dream of becoming a hero but it gave Touya something to do after getting yelled at to extinguish his flames. He'd record himself doing tricks and wild stunts to make himself feel some sort of accomplishment but it never filled the void in his chest that was the attention and approval of his father.

Endeavor shook out whatever guilty thoughts were in his head and proceeded into town. It was late but the streets were still lively. The smell of Yakitori guided the hungry hero to the food stand. "Endeavor!" The owner greeted with a bow. The old man looked up and noticed a blank expression staring back at him. He rubbed the back of his neck trying to find the right words to say. Much like Endeavor's side kicks, he too agreed to keep an eye out for Touya. Only difference was he had more hope that the boy was still alive. The old man believed in miracles after his infertile daughter surprised him with the news that she was pregnant. He was so excited that he had brought it up to Endeavor once. He had visited because Young Touya would get hungry at night so he'd stop by before getting home to pick up some Yakitori for him to snack on. The hero said to pass on his congratulations and then anonymously gifted the newly mother, a crib for her child. Touya loved visiting the old man after training and begged his father to get a gift for them.

"Sir." Endeavor nodded, "One please." He ordered and pulled out his wallet.

"Take two." The old man insisted. "No charge." He gave a weak smile as did Endeavor. "I'll stay in touch if anything comes up." He said.

"It would be greatly appreciated."

After another unsuccessful night, Endeavor dragged himself back to his agency. He pulled out a small album from his coat pocket and hung his jacket on the rack in the corner of his office. He slumped down onto his chair and stared down at the photo album in front of him. Endeavor was thankful that Rei hadn't woken up when he snuck into their bedroom to retrieve it from the closet. The father slowly reached out for the album that he and Rei had made for Touya when he was a baby. After a moment of hesitation he found the strength to open it up.

The first page was an ink blot of Touya's baby feet. They were so tiny due to him being two months premature. Endeavor could never forget how terrified he was after hearing the doctor say that Touya had a hole in his heart and needed surgery. Not once was he thinking about quirks. In that moment he just wanted his beautiful son to be safe and healthy in his arms. After a successful surgery and running a few more tests they informed the newly parents that their son will make a full recovery. Endeavor couldn't help the small upwards tug on his lips to create a partial smile. Even since birth Touya had always been a fighter.

Endeavor turned to the next page and it was a picture of him passed out on the couch and infant Touya asleep on his chest. The nanny had apologized for taking the picture but Rei absolutely loved that she captured this moment. Due to Touya being a preemie, he wasn't able to breastfeed normally and after tube feeding in the hospital he had slowly transitioned to drinking from a bottle. Unfortunately, he'd always cry in his mothers arms but found comfort in the presence of his father. Because of this, Endeavor was the one in charge of feeding Touya after Rei had bottles prepped.

Right beside this page were 3 scattered Polaroid pictures pasted on the sheet. The first showed baby Touya dressed up as a little pumpkin for Halloween. The second was a picture of Rei holding him as she was dressed as a cute scarecrow. And the third showed Endeavor not in a costume but still included in a family photo that the nanny took of them to remember Touya's first Halloween.

The night replayed in Endeavor's head. He remembered every little detail like it happened yesterday. Rei had told him to buy a cute costume for Touya but the one he bought was a two sizes too big so Touya ended up looking like a deflated balloon as apposed to a pumpkin. Endeavor had stuffed the costume with one of his large t shirts to fill up the extra space so his son wouldn't look completely ridiculous. He even recalled how Touya had kicked off his orange socks on their stroll through the neighborhood and how he and Rei didn't even notice they were lost until they had gotten back home.

Before turning to the next page Endeavor opened up the bottom drawer in his desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He didn't even have a shot glass to drink it out of. He simply popped the cap off and drank away.

He continued flipping through the memories and stopped at the picture of three year old Touya wearing his Endeavor pajamas. They were navy blue with a fiery mask on the t shirt and little flame patterns all over the pants. Those were his favorites to go to sleep in and he never wanted to take them off. Endeavor accidentally shrunk the pj's in the wash and quickly replaced them without Touya even noticing. That alone deserves for him to move up to the #1 hero spot.

When Touya was a toddler he would always ask his father to check the closet for monsters. It was all because he snuck out of his room one night and saw Endeavor watching the news where it showed a mugshot of a scary villain on the screen. For weeks Endeavor had to confirm that there was nothing in the room for Touya to be afraid of. Even with that being said, the little boy didn't sleep unless he was in bed with his parents there to protect him. Rei didn't mind as much as her husband considering she wasn't the one with a toddlers feet in her face all night.

The final picture of the album showed Touya igniting his flames for the first time. His quirk awakened on his fathers birthday of all days. It wasn't half cold and half hot like he had hoped for but he was happy none the less. Little did Endeavor know how that one wish was the beginning of this nightmare.

He went for another swig of whiskey and realized the bottle was empty. If it wasn't for the booze, the ache in Endeavor's chest would be enough for him to drop to his knees in pain. He shut the book and leaned over to rest his head on it. "I'll find you, Touya. I'll bring you home."
—————————————
Endeavor arrived home once the sun began to rise up in the sky. He didn't want to wake Rei by getting into bed so he decided to sleep on the couch in the living room. He eventually dozed off and let sleep finally consume him.

"Please help me. I'm scared." Touya cried at a pond that was surrounded by smoking ash. "I'm lost."

"Touya?" Endeavor walked out of the smoke to the child who turned to look back at him.

"Dad!" He jumped up into his fathers arms, "You came to look for me?"

"I haven't stopped looking for you." Endeavor squeezed Touya in his arms, "Don't ever do that again, okay? You come straight home. I can't lose you."

Touya pulled away, "I didn't think it'd matter if I left. I'm not your favorite anymore." He paused as tears weld up in his eyes. "Shoto is. He has the quirk you've been trying to make. He's perfect."

"I was selfish and put my goals and ambitions onto my children. I wasn't trying to replace you, Touya. I promise." He cried still holding his son. "I'm sorry I hurt you by saying to give up being a hero. I just couldn't watch you hurt yourself anymore." He admitted.

Touya looked up with his glowing teal eyes, "Then why did you let me burn?" He asked before cremating into ash.

Endeavor shot up off of the couch in a panic, gripping at his chest and gasping for air. He looked around to see where he was, thinking he had fallen asleep in his office, forgetting that he walked back home. He looked down and noticed that he was clutching onto Touya's baby pictures still. That trip down memory lane triggered a horrific nightmare of his son disappearing in his arms into ash and being gone forever. All because he didn't go watch Touya in the mountains like he had wanted him to. In Endeavor's mind he killed Touya. And if that was the case then that meant his son was truly dead.
______________
-3 years later-

Touya couldn't believe he survived that fire. If he was in a coma for three years like the doctor said then he must be sixteen now. He had no idea who that man was that brought him to that orphanage. He was just thankful that he had managed to escape and somehow make it back home in one piece.

"Mom and dad must be worried sick about me. I have to apologize to them. I have to let Shoto know that I'm sorry too." As soon as Touya entered the Todoroki house hold he could hear muffled yelling from the training room. He quietly made his way over but stopped when he noticed something strange. There was a piece of furniture at the end of the hall that he didn't recognize. When he got closer he was met with the horror of his own shrine. "They didn't look... They... He just forgot about me."

Touya squeezed his burning eyes shut and followed the sound of screaming. He peaked into the room and saw Shoto curled up on the floor crying and Endeavor standing over him, demanding to get back up. He shouted, "How do you expect to beat All Might when you're this weak!? Get up and quit pretending that you're hurt!"

"Nothings changed..." Touya whispered to himself. "It got worse. He hasn't learned a damn thing..." Touya walked back to his shrine muttering to himself. "My disappearance didn't make him want to change. I didn't matter." He ignited a single small flame onto his finger and lit the two candles at the shrine. Touya put his hands together and said a small prayer to his memory before accepting the fact that Touya Todoroki was dead and that he was never coming back. The shedding of his former self birthed his new life that was sworn on revenge. They'll all pay.

Later that night Endeavor walked to the shrine to light it before saying a prayer like he always did before bed. This time he noticed that the candles were already burning. He brushed it off as Fuyumi possibly igniting them. He put his hands together and spoke in his head.

After opening his eyes the look of dying flowers caught his eye. Endeavor gently took ahold of one of the limp petals, the slight movement caused the surrounding ones to fall. "I need to replace these. They're wilted."