The day Shoto awakened his quirk... is when all hell broke loose.
Your father stood there with a maniacal smile on his lips as Touya looked horrified. You don't know how to feel, but you can definitely feel the pit of horror forming in your stomach.
Almost instantly... Shoto is isolated from everyone in the house, even Rei.
The poor woman sputters and runs behind her husband as he drags your twin over for another round of training, but she is silenced with a single glare.
Shoto and his quirk is everything Enji dreamed of... He is his masterpiece.
The one who takes this news the worst, is Touya. He immediately jumps back into neglecting himself, ignoring your advice, and focuses simply on training his quirk...
It's almost psychotic how badly he's desperate for Enji's approval.
He is obsessed with the idea of being Enji's successor and you feel like all your progress has been for naught. You should have anticipated this... But you didn't even consider that Shoto's quirk would be the reason for Touya's relapse to insanity.
You've tried to uphold your promise to Shoto and tried to talk to him but Enji immediately kicks you out whenever he sees you, calling you a distraction... and a disappointment.
Because despite Shoto's quirk developing... You have yet to awaken your own.
When a whole year passes after your 4th birthday and you're finally 5 years old, your quirk still doesn't develop, and your father announces you as quirkless, looking at you with such disgust that if you were any normal child, you would have cried for hours.
Your mother consoles you and so does Natsuo and Fuyumi. Touya is too busy spiralling into madness to even think about your existence and Shoto cannot reach out to you, even if he tries. Still, you see him look at you longingly as he walks through the doors and you come across him for a brief moment.
He is guilty that he cannot even try protecting you from his father's disgust.
Yet you're doing your best to protect him by randomly walking in on his trainings and trying to get Enji's attention, even if it's for a small moment.
But the true horror happens when Touya approaches Enji, "Dad!! You have to take a look at this!! I-I've gotten stronger, I've gotten really strong! So now, you don't-you don't have any need for Shoto! I'll be your heir, so please–"
You watch from the hallway as Enji yells at him to stop this madness, he yells at him to stop hurting himself and make friends at school. The older male begs him to play with Fuyumi, Natsuo and you.
But Touya doesn't want to listen.
He's too far into this pit of obsession to get out.
At night, you can hear your parents talking. You can hear the defeat in Enji's voice as he realised that he cannot stop Touya from his path of self-destruction and turns to Rei, "Shoto's training is at its peak, I cannot have Touya distract me. Rei, he's your problem now. So stop him."
Your eyes are wide as you lay awake in your bed. Fuyumi is sleeping next to you because you ended up sharing rooms ever since you had to move out of your and Shoto's room.
But what you can only think of... is just how abhorring Todoroki Enji is.
You are physically repulsed by his actions, and just by his mere existence.
People like him do not deserve life.
As you get up to take a breath of fresh air to calm yourself down, you accidentally stumble into Enji. And he doesn't even spare you a glance as he walks past you.
Yet... you manage to catch sight of his features and something burns in your heart.
A memory...
His face, his expressions... They remind you of the first person you ever killed...
The first person you ever killed was a man that tried to hurt your brother... So you stabbed him to save [Brother Name].
Suddenly, you're breathless.
You can't breath, you can't breath!!
Fuck, fuck, fuck!! Why can't you breath?!
You pass out in the middle of the hallway, yet no one ever finds you or picks you up. You are left there until your eyes open yourself and you haul yourself to your room.
Life is unfair.
You've been telling yourself this fact ever since you were little. And even in your new life, you do not let go of this ideology.
Yet... You feel like this is just a personal grudge by God.
You don't think you've done anything to deserve going through this misery. Even if you killed people, you killed them to save others. You laid your life to save millions.
Why are you being punished for your sins, but there is no reward in sight?
Touya doesn't listen. He never listens to anyone.
And in his current mental state, he doesn't listen at all. You've seen Rei trying to stop him, you've seen Natsuo trying to stop him, even you've tried to stop him but he doesn't want to listen.
And this habit of his is what causes the downfall of the Todoroki family. It's almost like a reenactment of the scene you saw a few months ago.
It's Touya again, pulling Enji with him to show him that he's capable. That's he's doing much better than Shoto. That he even has gotten to the point where his fire has changed colors from red to blue–
"That's enough, Touya!! You will not train from now on, do you hear me?!" Enji's voice booms throughout the hallways, as he rests his gaze upon Touya's burns.
"I can't!! Even [Name] told me that I can get stronger!! I can do it, just listen!"
"That sister of yours is quirkless and a mute, she doesn't know anything! And you're seriously listening to a 5-year old?!"
"She's smart!! She knows that I can do it, so please–"
"Enough is enough!!"
That night, you are sitting in your room, trying to think of a way to solve everything when you hear the sound of something crashing.
And then... It's the sound of someone falling to the ground. You rush out your room to see... Fuyumi and Natsuo hiding while covering their ears and then.
Screams...
So many screaming: Enji, Rei, Shoto...
"YOU CAN'T STOP ONE CHILD, YOU FUCKING USELESS WOMAN?! ONE FUCKING CHILD!!" Your eyes widen as you watch Rei's body lying helpless on the ground, and Shoto loudly screaming, "DON'T BULLY MOM!! I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!!"
"STAY OUT OF THIS, SHOTO!!" Enji manages to push your twin away, despite his loud cries and throws another kick at Rei's body.
Ah, fuck... You can't breath again...
It's all too similar.
To the first time you killed someone.
After living your life as Todoroki [Name], it seems like you've grown soft. You were never this cowardly, yet here you are...
You don't even realised when your body goes into autopilot. You don't realise your legs thumping against the wooden boards, your hands searching for one simple thing and you hold it out like it's the answer to all your problems.
Maybe... it is.
In the light, you see it shine.
The single blade you hold in your hands; a boxcutter.
You can feel your body moving as you rush back to the living room and watch how Enji is still screaming at Rei over how useless she is. You can see Shoto clinging onto Enji's sleeve as he begs him to let Rei go.
And once again, you are reminded... That some people deserve to die.
Your tiny hands wrap themselves around the boxcutter and you slowly stalk your way out. You are slow and steady, and with Enji's screaming, no one can hear you.
With a rush of adrenaline, you use all the strength in your body and rush forward. You push yourself forward with such strength that the wooden floor board breaks under the force of your kick.
Your mind is blank and only one thing is running through your head right now: get Rei and Shoto out of there.
Angling the blade, you jump at Enji and his eyes widen when he hears the cracks of the floorboard, only to realise that it's you rushing at him with a blade. What's worse is where you're positioning it...
At his neck.
Just narrowly, he dodges but it slices through some of his skin as he is left shocked. You have seemed to given up on holding back and turn to Shoto, "Get her out of here." He shakily looks at you, tears still stuck to his cheeks as he cries silently.
"Ha... Ha... Rei, do you see this?! DO YOU SEE THIS, YOU FUCKING BITCH?! YOU RAISED A PSYCHO!! A VILLAIN! SHE JUST TRIED TO STAB–" You don't give him a chance to complain as you rush at him again, this time... he's prepared.
Yet, so are you.
Just as he raises his hand to hurl his fire at you, in an attempt to stop you, you duck under the flames and use your smaller size to your advantage. You rush over as fast as you can and raise the box cutter. Now that Enji has realised that you didn't get away from the flames, he tries to grab onto you.
But the moment he brings his hand close to you, you ram the cutter straight through his hand and use what little force you have in this child body, to drag it forward through his hand and create a jagged cut through which blood pours out like a waterfall.
Your father lets out a yell of pain before he stops holding back and kicks you away. Your body is thrown against the walls and you can faintly hear someone screaming your name.
Whether it's Rei or Shoto, you're not sure.
But you can still hear Enji cursing in pain as he blames your mother, "DO YOU SEE THIS?! YOU BITCH!! SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!! DO YOU KNOW WHO DOES THAT?! VILLAINS! SHE'S NOTHING BUT A FUTURE VILLAIN!! WHAT FUCKING IRONY! THE BROTHER WILL BE A HERO AND THE SISTER IS GROWING UP TO BE A VILLAIN!"
As Rei peers at your half-unconscious form, she turns to her husband as he lets out another string of curses, "You know what?! I've had enough... She's the one who's been feeding those stupid fantasies in Touya's mind! I'm sending her away! She's distracting Shoto and she's ruining Touya!"
"NO!! NO, YOU CAN'T DO THAT!! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE [NAME] AWAY!! STOP IT!! DON'T TAKE MY SISTER AWAY!"
"SHUT UP, SHOTO!! YOUR SISTER IS A VILLAIN!"
"NO, IT'S YOU!! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HURT MOM!! SHE WAS JUST PROTECTING US!" Those words anger Endeavor more than anything as he raises his non-injured arm to slap your brother, but you manage to move a bit to alert him of your consciousness.
Enji stops mid-way and returns his glare to you, stomping over, before gripping your arm and raising you by it, "You thought you could kill me?! I'm the number two hero–"
"I know, you loser... You cry about it every night like a baby..."
Those were the first words you ever said to your father, and he was livid.
"You precocious little brat..." He leaves your mother and Shoto in the room while he drags you away.
You can hear Rei shuffling and running after him, begging him to let you go and that she'll take any hits he gives her, if only he lets you go.
Shoto is also screaming at Enji but the man doesn't budge. You're constantly falling in and out of consciousness so you don't really know much, but the next time you're fully awake...
You find yourself in your room, Shoto sitting right next to with tears streaming down his face.
"Shoto?" As you call out to him, the boy snaps his head in your direction and gasps for air, "[N-Name]!!"
It's rather dark, and judging by the lack of light from the window as well, it's obvious that it's already night time. Probably even midnight already.
You're not sure what happened, but you do find out that your head has been wrapped up and you have been given some painkillers because it doesn't ache as much as you expected it.
You groan slightly, as you turn to your twin and his cries only get more violent, "I-I'm so sorry... I'm sorry, [Name]... I didn't protect you!" His cries are hysterical but they're completely silent.
"Shoto, it's okay... Where's mom and... Dad?" He flinches at the mentioning of Enji and you sneer to yourself as you notice it.
Ah... Such a shame you didn't get to stab Todoroki Enji like you had originally wished.
"Mommy's in her room... T-Touya came home and dad got angry at him as well, but then he saw you and he started crying too... I was-I was so worried!! Why did you sleep for so long?!"
You didn't really want to explain that Enji's kick ended up giving you a near-concussion, to a child so you just smiled awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I won't sleep for so long, ever again... So don't worry, okay?"
Shakily, he nodded as you raised a hand to give him a warm headpat, "There, there... Don't cry, okay? I said I'll protect you, so it's only fair I keep my promise." He looks dejected as he peers down at his lap, "But I... I didn't keep my promise, I didn't protect you..."
"It's fine, Shoto. Today, I protected you. One day, you'll protect me. After all, you're becoming a hero, right? I'll be your damsel in distress."
"What's a... Damsel? Is it a friend?" You blinked at his confused question as he rubbed his eyes and you tried to soften your chuckles, "No, it means that you'll be my hero, how about that?"
"Okay... I'll protect you, like All Might! I'll... I'll be like All Might, I'll never be like Dad." Running your fingers through his hair, you nod (as much of a nod as you could do with you lying down), "Good, don't ever be like him, okay?"
"I won't... I promise I'll protect you and mom!"
"Thank you, Shoto." You smile and he tries to smile back, but a yawn breaks out his lips. Noticing this, you scoot over to the side and pat the empty space, "Come on, lie down." His eyes light up, ever so slightly as he slides in the futon and curls up like a cat, pressing his head against your chest.
You run your fingers through his hair and it slowly but surely lulls him to sleep. Once he's asleep and his breathing is steady, you try to pick his hands off of you and put a pillow in your place, so he doesn't notice your absence.
Carefully, you slide out of your futon and tiptoe to the door. It's hard because you're a bit delirious thanks to the head injury you received by your father dearest.
But you somehow manage to make it out the room without waking Shoto up. As you stalk your way through the halls, you notice that the light to Touya's and Natsuo's room isn't lit.
You consider him to be asleep so you leave him as such before moving away to Rei's room. She has a separate room from Enji's as she no longer feels comfortable with him.
He scares her.
"Mom..." You mutter as you peek inside of the room, only to see her hunched over the side of the bed. Although, the moment she hears your voice, she straightens up and snaps her head over to you in shock, "[Name]!"
The albino immediately rushes over to you, holding you firmly but gently in her arms as she addresses you, "What are you doing out of bed?! You-You got hurt! You got hurt, because of me and... Oh God..."
"Mom, are you okay? Does it hurt?" You don't touch the bruise on her face, but slightly hover your hand over it to show what you were referring to.
"Oh... No, no, it doesn't..." She smiles shakily at you, trying to reassure you but you can see the tears that well up in her eyes. Raising the same hand, you rest it a top her head and pat her head like you did with Shoto.
You don't know why, but that gesture alone is enough for Rei to burst in tears as she pulls you in tight and sobs uncontrollably.
"I-I'm sorry!! I'm so, so damn sorry, [Name]!! Mommy's so weak, mommy can't to anything to protect you!! You had to-You had to jump in to save mommy!"
You don't really say much, knowing how much she needed to cry. And that was what your main purpose was. To let Rei take it all out. She didn't need to hold all her pain in.
As Rei ultimately stops for a breather, she realizes what consequences your actions have, "O-Oh... Oh God, no... Your father, he-he... He's going to send you away... You shouldn't have... Shouldn't have hurt him like this! Why did you–"
"He hurt you, so I hurt him. It's a fair deal." She frantically shakes her head, "No, no, no! No, sweetie! You can't-You can't do that! He's your... your father!"
"And you're his wife, why does he get a free pass to hurt you? Does he think he's God just cause he's a hero? He's not infallible, mom. He's a..." You stop yourself before you start cursing up a storm.
"He's the real villain here."
She is taken aback by your thinking, clearly not expecting this type of thinking from a 5-year old. But she quickly reminds herself that you're way smarter that an average child... And such shitty household conditions will make any kid mature faster.
"B-But still... He's going to send you away now..."
"He won't do that. Because that's going to make people question him. He's a loser, he won't deal with that."
"No, I think... this time, he definitely meant it." She has guilt lining her eyes as she looks at you but you simply shrug at her, "It's fine. We'll deal with it when it happens."
"I'm sorry, [Name]... I can't do anything–"
"Mom... It's okay. Don't worry, I'll protect you and Shoto... and Touya-nii, too... I'll protect all of us."