┊twisting fate

~O~

"If you keep going like this, you'll die an unspeakably gruesome death!"

At that moment, for some reason, Toshinori could hear Mirai's words ringing in his head. Again and again, on a constant loop. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for him. Hearing those words in his head - sometimes a few twisted versions thrown in by his treacherous mind, that was more or less how he spent the five years after his first fight with All For One. Toshinori didn't understand why, when his mind was always plagued by the thoughts of his doom, when he awaited his end, when he accepted the fact that he was to go, death never came to him.

It never did.

Mirai's foresight once stretched far too much into the future couldn't pinpoint the exact time of the events he saw. The same was the phenomenon for Toshinori's impending death. He didn't truly know when he would die. The gap between his prediction wasn't exactly too great. But all the time Toshinori had spent in those words' shadows, he had been prepared. He had been prepared for the worst. He was ready to embrace his fate every time he charged into battle, every time he was attacked by a villain because maybe this was it, maybe this is the one, the villain who ends me.

Toshinori was always prepared for his fate.

Even when he passed One For All - the undying torch, the unparalleled legacy of it to Izuku, he had no problem with meeting his doom. He trained Izuku, as hard as he could, as much as wouldn't burden him too much. He trained the boy so he could fill in his shoes when he was gone. So, he could carry the torch and be a symbol. Guide society and protect the people. Izuku had all the qualities to do so and most importantly, he wanted to do it. That was all Toshinori could ever ask for. He would die happily because this quirkless middle schooler would be there for when he's gone.

It didn't come.

Toshinori did not die in any villain attack.

He remembered feeling frustrated at one point too. Why wouldn't it come? Why wouldn't he die? Why couldn't any villain kill him? Come on, how much longer do you want an old man to wait?

It could've been at the USJ very easily. The Nomu could have taken him out. But it didn't because Toshinori himself didn't let it. For if he was to die then and there, who would've protected his precious students? His injured colleagues? His successor? Toshinori might have been waiting for death for the past six years now but he didn't have it in him to just leave them in the claws of these villains. He just couldn't. Not when he told his successor to go back with his friends, to not worry about Toshinori, to not interfere.

And funny, despite not wanting to die at that moment he got so, so close to dying. If it wasn't for Izuku to jump in at the last second and distract the villains - even if it was for a moment, it saved Toshinori. Izuku saved him when didn't want to die. Izuku was there when Toshinori wasn't ready. And because the boy jumped in to save his life, to snatch him back from the arms of death, Toshinori realized that he cannot die. Because a weak boy who couldn't control his power without breaking himself fearlessly risked his own life to save Toshinori. Izuku lived thankfully for the backup that arrived soon after but he got hurt. The boy got injured protecting his idol. The least Toshinori could do was not die on him.

So instead, he trained him more. Watched him grow, making sure he had his head in the right place and wasn't constantly doubting himself. What Toshinori hated the most was how he was never there to protect this child whenever he was in danger. The Stain incident and the attack on the training camp happened before Toshinori retired, before he lost his quirk. Meaning he could have protected Izuku. He could've saved him too. He could've been there for him too. Toshinori never got to save Izuku but Izuku saved him more times than he could count.