Mental Scars: A MHA Story

Tame the Flame

   Shouta frankly hated the night patrol. Villains were always active and he always ended up having to work no matter how much he wanted to go home and rest. The night seemed quiet so far. Nothing to really note. His patrol had been extended due to a fire at the number two hero's house earlier that evening.

   The family had been asleep. The eldest Todoroki child had been missing. People suspected the child was killed in the fire. No one knew if the boy had an ice quirk like his mother or a fire one like his father. No one knew much of anything about Endeavors family...

   Despite how awful it sounded, Shouta hoped they would find a body and be done with it. It would confirm the worst but at least it was a confirmation. Shouta hadn't really been around Endeavor a lot but when he was... something about the other Pro felt off. He wouldn't put it past Endeavor to have a hand in the fire...

   Eraserhead paused when he heard a crash down below. He sighed. So much for a quiet night. He hopped down prepared to deal with the villain he found. 

   It wasn't a villain. 

   Shouta looked at the boy for a moment immediately noticing several things. The snow white hair stained with ash, the dark burns littering his body, the expensive looking clothes. The boy looked exhausted. The turquoise eyes burning with a fire that looks so malicious for such a small boy. 

   The boy jumped and put himself into a fighting stance. "Stay away from me!" His voice hadn't even begun to drop yet. He couldn't be more than ten...

   Eraserhead let his weapon ease around his neck. "I don't wanna fight you. You're a kid."

   These seemed to be the wrong words. "I'm not weak!" The boy yelled immediately with blue flames spurting from his hands. 

   "I didn't say that."

   "You thought it! I'm not! I'm strong and my quirk is fine! These burns weren't from that! I'm gonna show him-" 

   "Endeavor..?" Shouta assumed. 

   The boy stepped back and growled under his breath. "If you take me back to him I'll-" 

   "I didn't say that either."

   The boy didn't lower his guard. "I can show him. I'm not weak. He should see that!"

   "I doubt you are. They think you're dead though, Todoroki."

   "I'm not a Todoroki!" 

   Shouta raised a brow. He was really to tired for this... "Oh? What will you do then? Where will you go?"

   The boy faltered and frowned. "None of your business."

   "Why do you think you need to prove yourself anyway? Consider it curiosity." Shouta shrugged.

    The boy frowned. "Endeavor stopped training me. He thinks the fact that my fire is too hot but my skin isn't is weak. He's been training Shoto instead," he hissed out. "I can be strong! I'll be stronger than he ever was!"

   Shouta wouldn't admit it... but he saw a bit of himself in the boy. A desire to prove himself. A need to be strong even when others thought you weren't Maybe that's why he did it...

   "I believe you."

   The boy blinked in shock dropping out of his defensive stance. "You... You do?"

   Shouta nodded. "There are ways to deal with your condition. Quirk counselling, experimental medicines. Something could work to you. But you're young still. You need to have a childhood and go to proper school before you start training to be a pro."

   The boy studied the hero in front of him. "I'm not going back. Endeavor won't train me. I'm as good as dead to him."

   "Come with me. They think you're dead. And honestly I can't leave you out here in good conscious... I could get you the proper quirk counselling and training."

   The boy once again looked stunned. "Are you serious? You'd help me be a pro? Better than Endeavor?" 

   Eraserhead nodded. 

   The boy seemed to contemplate the offer. "Yeah. Okay."

   Shouta hummed. "C'mon then. We need to get those burns treated."