Chapter 9: Force of Nature [ Rough Draft ]
Catalyst AU: Hero Touya Origins
Natsuo peaked out the front door after he watched Touya exit their residence to make his way to UA. Anger prickled through him. Their older brother just pretended they didn’t exist these days. The door creaked as he slipped away, but the hum of a postal van neared their mailbox.
His expression softened and shifted. Most letters went directly to Endeavor’s agency. Was it a letter for him or his siblings…?
Natsuo made his way to the mailbox and opened it, finding a letter with a blue flower sticker on it. It was to Touya.
From… Natsuo’s eyes widened and his heart lurched. He ran inside and stopped by Fuyumi and Shoto’s room. “My room, now.”
They sensed his urgency and hurried to gather in Natsuo’s room. He shut the door and sat in a circle with his older sister and younger brother, then set the letter on the floor. “We need to read this.”
Fuyumi’s eyes widened too, “Mom reached out..?”
Shoto stared at the letter with bafflement and awe.
Natsuo nodded, “To Touya. Probably because he’s alive, but I have a bad feeling he sent her a letter first.”
“Then shouldn’t Touya open the letter..?” Fuyumi’s brow furrowed, “It’s only addressed to him…”
“You know how he is with mom.” Natsuo countered, “I don’t know what he’ll do if he reads it.”
Shoto picked up the letter and his siblings' eyes turned to him. I barely remember the things she used to tell me..
He carefully opened the envelope and the letter and set it out for all of them.
I’m just happy you’re alive son.
I’m so sorry for everything.
Go live your life as a hero. I’ll be watching.
I’ll be watching.. Shoto stared at the letter. Will she be watching me too? Can I send a letter..? Should I…
“Why is she apologizing...?” Fuyumi furrowed her brows in confusion, though the deep seed of dread in her heart knew the answer.
Reading the letter over, Natsuo got an idea of what Touya said to their mom. “He’s cutting her off.”
“But it looks like she supports him now!” Fuyumi looked up, “We should give him the letter.”
“I would like to keep it.” Shoto picked it back up and held it close. “Natsuo, can you tell him what it says?”
“I mean.. I’ll try. I doubt he’ll listen though.” Natsuo scratched the back of his head, “Put the letter somewhere safe.”
Shoto got up and nodded resolutely. “I will.”
The sky was clear over the grounds of Ground Beta. A slight breeze pulled at the flames of Touya’s fiery orange new bat. It smoldered like his frustration.
Indignant is the word he would use for the hazing ritual that was quirkless training. The silver lighter had a powerful output, but that didn’t change the fact it was not his quirk. Endeavor uses his flames as a show of his own power and strength.
His own flames stayed blue, unlike the flames from the lighter.
Touya could barely feel the heat from the bat, which meant it was nothing like what he invoked with Blueflame.
There was a bit more feeling in his body since he started his regular visits to the hospital. They were restoring his nerve damage bit by bit, which made his quirk feel slightly more intense. Never been an issue for him to push past that, but it was why he needed to use his quirk less now.
It’s also why Aizawa was watching him closely. Today, he was on ground level with him.
As he struck and burned each ballistic dummy and robot with a bat, it became clear that the damage would be as effective as the average fire quirk in battle. He could almost mimic pyrokinesis with how the fire poi spun and set things ablaze."
“When you have fire as an extension of your body an outside source might seem redundant, but think of it more as accessible.” Aizawa explained, “You have an easy back up that’s reflective of your fighting style when your quirk is in use.”
Touya tapped his foot and furrowed his brows in irritation as he took a short break from hitting targets. Aizawa’s words made sense, a lighter somehow felt less like a force of nature, and more like a cheap imitation.
He took deep breaths in and out where the smoke from the fires were the least acrid on the streets. Pride and anger welled in his chest, but he just had to stifle it. Push it down. Be patient. This is just what it takes for me to get what I want. I can use this.
“One more thing,” Aizawa began.
Touya turned to look at him.
“You’ll be using your quirk again next week. Nezu’s going to bring in more agile kinds of robots with heat sensors. Your flames burn at over 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, much hotter than Endeavor’s firepower. Immolating someone’s weapon or an extension of their quirk to disable it is fine, but you’re gonna have to be more careful and selective with how severe the burns you want to inflict against an opponent will be.”
Touya got really quiet after Aizawa said that. His expression was neutral as he made his next comment. “I don’t think you appreciate how lucky you were to have found me.”
The orphanage fire and his lash out against that sunny flower-faced creep flashed by in his thoughts. He ran out pretty fast after the fire spread, and that group of kids ran outside fast when the fire alarm went off. He didn’t stay to figure out what happened to that guy. Probably survived given how weak his flames were, but still..
“Not comforting to hear, but also not surprising.” Aizawa shook his head and sighed deeply, “Tell Endeavor to take your training seriously. If you’re gonna work with him too, don’t let him slack off. Clearly he did sometime in the past.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe…” Touya whispered under his breath as he started to swing the fire poi again. “I will if he acts like how he used to, but he’s doing better lately.”
He closed his eyes and excitement welled in his heart. This was a marvelous fact.
“Speaking of, how are things back home?”
“My siblings are nosy.” Touya’s eyes stared ahead at the dummy with a dangerous glint in his glowing cyan eyes. “I need them to stay out of my way.”
“I won’t be your therapist, but I suggest you just leave them alone or at the very least, tolerate them.”
“I won’t tolerate them. I’m done with that.”
“Alright.” Aizawa shrugged, “Can’t fix your personal relationships. That’s not my job. But it is my job to teach you to be a hero, so you’re gonna have to tolerate someone besides me at some point.”
“We’ll just have to see.”
On the other side of Musutafu, a small house by a lake front sheltered another troubled soul.
“In a minute!” The young teenager with blue hair hollered to his adoptive mom from within his room. His desk littered with snacks and pop, and his eyes were locked on the video game on his computer. His fingers, some covered by his artist gloves, clanked against his keyboard. He talked to his online friend through the mic. “Sorry, Shuichi. My family’s having a cookout. It’d probably be more fun if you were here.”
“Really? Man, that sounds great! I’d really like to move out and live where you are.”
“Yeah, get your butt over here! You should go to UA with me.”
“Right, the hero course. I think I’d be better in general studies for now, don’t know how well I’d do as a hero really. I’d just be happy to support you."
“That’s fine.” Tenko smiled at his friend’s words. The round ended and he exited competitive, then connected the call to his phone instead of PC and put on video chat. “Gotta go out before mom yells again.”
“Ah.” Shuichi snickered, “Forced family time?”
“Yeah..” Tenko nodded and looked at the picture frame on the wall as he walked out. The family who took him that night he was lost was something special, though nothing extraordinary.
There had to be lots of people out there who needed someone in their life to show them a different path. Not a single pro hero reached out to him. Just a mundane little family with a mom, dad, and a daughter with rescue hero aspirations and a quirk similar to his own.
He was going to be the kind of hero they were in his eyes. He’d reach out, no matter how hopeless or lost someone looked. The world needed more of that, and it frustrated him that there wasn’t enough.
Someone had to care about evil enough to keep it from growing in someone’s heart.
Tenko scratched his neck gently, pushing down his memories and what they could have turned him into. He stepped outside and joined his family by the bonfire.
Notes: Typically I choose Inko and Izuku as Tenko/Tomura's family in my personal AUs, but I feel like exploring some new ideas! And so, his adoptive mom and dad are moreso OCs, while his sister is Anan Kurose - Pro Hero Thirteen! I have a short story in mind for their family.
💠 This story will be continued on my MHA AO3 account, Polarisfrostflower! 💠
