—Cole POV—
Handing the reins over to my Angels, I promptly headed home to get ready for another important event. Today Fuyumi, her family, and I were set to finally meet Dabi in Tartaros after weeks of back and forth with the Warden. Even though she was excited to see him again for the first time in over a decade, there was an air of sadness around her when she talked about it. While genuinely happy that he was still alive, she could not get past all the lives he took after her father broke him.
“You going to be alright?”, I inquired as I walked into our bedroom to retrieve her.
Seeing her sitting on the edge of the bed with a photo of them as children. Recalling the few memories she could of him before his apparent death, I could see tears forming in the corner of her eye. Kneeling down in front of her, I calmly took her hands and gave them a kiss.
“I know you feel partially responsible for letting him slip into darkness, but he ultimately made the decision himself. Toya could have taken the abuse his father gave him and turned it into something positive like you but he did not. He chose to share his pain with innocent people which led to the suffering of countless people.”, I said looking her in the eyes, “It is okay to still love the young boy you knew as Toya, and despise the man named Dabi. Do not let his current state change the memories you hold so dear of him.”
Pulling a handkerchief out of my Storage, I wiped her tears away and kissed her on the forehead. Telling her to take all the time she needed to collect herself, she fell into my arms and gripped me tightly. Letting her softly cry in my arms for a few minutes, eventually, Fuyumi collected herself enough to finish getting ready. Holding onto my arm tightly once she was ready, I opened a portal for us and headed to Tartaros.
—Tartaros Maximum Security Prison—
“Morning.”, I said as Fuyumi and I stepped out of the portal.
“Morning…”, Enji grumbled while Rei glared at him.
“Good Morning Cole and Fuyumi, I apologize that Enji is not acting like an adult this morning.”, Rei jabbed making it clear she was not in a happy mood.
Double checking that none of us had any contraband on us, the six of us stepped inside and headed for the Visitor Check-In station. Finding an unmotivated guard behind the two-inch thick glass, Rei announced that we were here to see her son Toya. Ignoring her initial statement for a moment, it was only when Enji and I cleared our throats that he turned to look at us. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he begrudgingly asked for our IDs and Approval Documents.
“Here you go.”, Rei said sliding the information under the glass, “Is it always this dead here?”
“Ma’am, hardly anyone comes to visit the animals we have locked in here. The only frequent visitor we have is a local priest that comes to pray for the soon to be executed criminals.”, the guard replied as he scanned our IDs and double-checked the paperwork.
Taking his sweet time doing his job, Rei’s patience began to wear thin as time slowly passed. Having been looking forward to this day since hearing Toya was alive, she was angry that he was keeping her from her son. Sliding the papers back to us fifteen minutes later, he motioned for us to approach the Security Door and then buzzed us through once staff on the other side were ready.
Telling us to step forward one at a time, the officers began systematically patting us down and going through our pockets looking for any contraband. Glaring at a male officer that attempted to pat down Rei and Fuyumi, I asked that a female officer do it as I did not like him. Initially telling me no, I threatened to call several politicians that owed me favors to get them fired if they did not comply. Knowing which politicians I was referring to, one of the lieutenants ordered a female officer to do the pat down.
“Just so you know, threatening us like that will not make this any easier for you.”, the lieutenant told me.
“I will remember that when I speak with the Commissioner again.”, I retorted with a smirk.
Scowling at me for a moment, he turned away and left the room. Likely understanding that he had no power in this situation, the only options he had were to stand there and take it or just walk away. Once the women were checked, it was the men’s turn and Enji was none too happy about being touched by portly male officers.
“Is this really necessary!”, Enji grumbled nearly yelling as the male officer about touched his junk, “You do realize that I am Endeavor, right? Are you suggesting I would break my criminal son out of here?”
“It is the Warden’s Policy, no exceptions.”, the officer patting me down replied, “Believe me, we do not like having to touch you all over checking for contraband. Even All Might could not get in here without being patted down like you are now.”
“Wait, All Might is here?”, Shoto inquired as they completed our pat downs.
“Yeah, he arrived probably thirty minutes ago to see one of the inmates.”, Enji’s guard answered, “Think the kid he is seeing was All For One’s apprentice, not sure why he is visiting that scumbag. If the Warden had his way, we would have thrown him in the Pit and forgotten he ever existed. Unfortunately since All Might comes here frequently that is not an option.”
Knowing the reason behind the visit, as Shigaraki was his mentor’s grandson, it did not surprise me that All Might had not shared this information with anyone. Making us slowly walk through a Metal Detector and X-ray machine, they cleared us for entry once Shoto got through. Handing us Visitor Passes, we were taken to a Waiting Room and told to stay there till Dabi was moved to the Visitation Room. Leaving us alone after that, Rei and Fuyumi let out a stressful sigh. Leaning into me with a worried look, my wife began to second guess her decision to come here.
“Cole…I do not know if I can do this.”, Fuyumi whispered as she gripped my hand, “What if Toya despises all of us for not looking for him, or tells us we are dead to him? I…I do not think I can hear those words right now, I just want the elder brother I used to have back with us.”
“Everything will be okay dear, this is just your anxiety talking. While it is a possibility that he hates you, more than likely he only really hates your asshat of a father.”, I replied just loud enough so Enji could hear me, “Your mother, younger brothers, and you did absolutely nothing wrong to him. Sure he could argue that you could have tried to help, but Natsuo and you were just children. As for your mother, I am certain he does not hate your mother…especially after seeing the abuse your father gave her for not making a suitable heir for him.”
Glancing over at Enji, the anger in his eyes was clearly visible to me. Even though he wanted to refute everything I was saying, everyone in the room knew that it was the truth. No matter how badly he wanted to cover up what he had done, there was no hiding it from his family or me.
“Mrs. Todoroki, I do not think you need to be worried about Toya. From what I was able to gather, he has regularly been sending you flowers and chocolates. No matter how much disdain he holds for your husband, you always did your best to comfort and show your love for him.”, I told Rei, “There is no doubt in my mind that you are probably the biggest reason he agreed to see us.”
“Thank you, Cole, I had no idea they were coming from Toya.”, Rei admitted, “I thought they were attempts from Enji to bring me back home. If it was Toya sending flowers and small gifts, that means my husband is even worse of a man than I expected.”
“Why am I the one being attacked on all sides here!?”, Enji demanded.
“Because it is your fault Mom and Toya had mental breakdowns.”, Natsuo spat in anger, “Ever since we were born, none of us have ever been good enough for you. Mom has had to deal with that since before we were born, I cannot begin to imagine why she has stayed with you this long.”
It appeared that the Todoroki children were unaware of the circumstances behind their parent’s meeting. I was certain that if they knew their father had “purchased” their mother from her family, they would go ballistic on him. Unfortunately for Rei, if she divorced her husband, she had nowhere to go as her family disowned her after the marriage. Having served her purpose in getting them money, they no longer saw a need to be connected to her which had to of hurt her.
“I am glad you are here with me Cole, I do not think I could handle this alone.”, Fuyumi said as she leaned her head into my chest, “While I may be scared to find out how my brother feels about me, it is ten times easier with my husband here beside me.”
Kissing her on the forehead, I rubbed her shoulder and patiently watched the clock on the wall. Watching the seconds tick away slowly, we sat there for nearly thirty minutes waiting on them to retrieve us. When they finally came in the Captain who would be our supervisor froze up as Rei glared at him like an angry mother bear.
“My apologies for the delay…”, he gulped as he adjusted his collar, “We are ready for you now, please follow me.”
Stepping back out into the hallway, we were greeted by a contingent of thirteen guards who would be stationed in the room with us during the meeting. Even though Dabi’s Quirk was sealed by Anti-Quirk cuffs, they were taking no chances with him.
Entering the large, white room, we found a small table in the middle of the room with seven chairs around it. Asking us to take a seat so they could bring him in, once we were settled, the Captain radioed the guards to bring him in. Watching a large sliding door open opposite the way we came from, we saw Dabi appear with four guards around him.
“Move it scumbag!”, one of the guards shouted as he rammed his stun baton into Dabi’s back.
Wincing in pain as he began to move, I could see faint signs of recent injuries on him. Unsure if it was from fights with other inmates or from the guards, my current assumption was the guards given our interactions so far with them.
“Toya!!”, Rei shouted immediately recognizing her son, “My baby boy, I am so sorry!!”
Leaping out of her seat, Rei was unable to hold back her emotions as she ran toward him. For a brief moment, I saw an innocent smile form on his face as he looked on at his mother. Before she could get to him though, two of his guards got between them and pointed their batons at her. Demanding to know why she could not hug her son after all the checks we went through, they informed her that physical contact with inmates was forbidden by the Warden.
“What!?”, Rei gasped in horror, “I am not going to harm my eldest son!! Up until a few weeks ago, I thought he was dead!!”
“Warden’s Rules ma’am, we have some very dangerous people in here that might try to kill their visitors. The Warden has this rule in place to keep everyone here safe, both visitors and staff.”, one of them answered, “Please go back to your seat, or we will take him back to his cell.”
“Please do not do that!!”, Rei begged them, “I just want to hold my baby boy…can you not make an exception just this once?”
“Ma’am, please return to your seat or we will ban you from ever seeing your child again!”, the guard growled in anger, “You are acting like this is an innocent man, do you know how many lives this man has taken!?”
Seeing that we had reached an impasse, I created an illusion to fool the cameras and then incapacitated the guards with a Sleep Spell. No longer blocked from holding her son, Rei ran toward him and pulled him into a big hug.
“My baby boy, I am so sorry!!”, Rei cried as she held him tightly, “If only I had been stronger back then, maybe I could have saved you!! I am sorry you had to survive alone on the streets if I had known I-”
“It is okay Mom, I know.”, Toya answered as he hugged her back, “All the anger I had for you disappeared when I saw what Dad did to you. It should be me apologizing for not seeing the mental strain he placed on you for birthing incompetent children. When I saw you broken in the hospital…my anger for Enji only grew more intense.”
Staring at one another for a moment, Enji broke eye contact and hung his head in shame. Acknowledging that he had caused all of this, he could not face the son who thought he had killed that day. Turning to look at his siblings, Toya stopped when he saw me sitting next to Fuyumi. Seeing her holding my hand and wearing an engagement ring, he pieced together what was going on.
“So that is how it is…”, Toya said with disgust, “Are you after Enji’s fame and connections?”
“If I could legally cripple your Dad, I would do so in a heartbeat.”, I remarked with a smirk, “Your father is a piece of shit, no doubt about that in my mind. I am with your sister because she is an amazing woman with a big heart. You may not see it, but siblings really do miss you and are horrified this asshat drove you into this life. Please hate your father all you want, just give your siblings and mother another chance to show you they care.”
Looking at his siblings for a moment, Toya let out a sigh and told them he would give them a chance. Glaring at Enji, he told him to stand in the corner and not look at him as he made his skin crawl. Opening his mouth to speak, Natsuo and Fuyumi demanded he not utter a word and do as Toya asked. Seeing his face twitch for a moment, Enji got up and pulled his chair away to go sit in one of the corners of the room.
“Just so everyone is on the same page, the spells I used will wear off in three hours. Please keep that in mind so we can play it off like nothing happened here.”, I stated giving Toya a nod, “If you want, I am willing to step out as well for Fuyumi’s sake.”
“No, you can stay at the table. While I dislike you for helping arrest me, if you are going to marry Fuyumi, I want to make sure you will not abuse her as our sperm donor did with our mother.”, Toya remarked, “Besides…you helped buy me some time with my mother.”
Taking a seat at the table with us, Rei and Fuyumi immediately began catching him up on everything he had missed out on.
—Cole POV—
Handing the reins over to my Angels, I promptly headed home to get ready for another important event. Today Fuyumi, her family, and I were set to finally meet Dabi in Tartaros after weeks of back and forth with the Warden. Even though she was excited to see him again for the first time in over a decade, there was an air of sadness around her when she talked about it. While genuinely happy that he was still alive, she could not get past all the lives he took after her father broke him.
“You going to be alright?”, I inquired as I walked into our bedroom to retrieve her.
Seeing her sitting on the edge of the bed with a photo of them as children. Recalling the few memories she could of him before his apparent death, I could see tears forming in the corner of her eye. Kneeling down in front of her, I calmly took her hands and gave them a kiss.
“I know you feel partially responsible for letting him slip into darkness, but he ultimately made the decision himself. Toya could have taken the abuse his father gave him and turned it into something positive like you but he did not. He chose to share his pain with innocent people which led to the suffering of countless people.”, I said looking her in the eyes, “It is okay to still love the young boy you knew as Toya, and despise the man named Dabi. Do not let his current state change the memories you hold so dear of him.”
Pulling a handkerchief out of my Storage, I wiped her tears away and kissed her on the forehead. Telling her to take all the time she needed to collect herself, she fell into my arms and gripped me tightly. Letting her softly cry in my arms for a few minutes, eventually, Fuyumi collected herself enough to finish getting ready. Holding onto my arm tightly once she was ready, I opened a portal for us and headed to Tartaros.
—Tartaros Maximum Security Prison—
“Morning.”, I said as Fuyumi and I stepped out of the portal.
“Morning…”, Enji grumbled while Rei glared at him.
“Good Morning Cole and Fuyumi, I apologize that Enji is not acting like an adult this morning.”, Rei jabbed making it clear she was not in a happy mood.
Double checking that none of us had any contraband on us, the six of us stepped inside and headed for the Visitor Check-In station. Finding an unmotivated guard behind the two-inch thick glass, Rei announced that we were here to see her son Toya. Ignoring her initial statement for a moment, it was only when Enji and I cleared our throats that he turned to look at us. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he begrudgingly asked for our IDs and Approval Documents.
“Here you go.”, Rei said sliding the information under the glass, “Is it always this dead here?”
“Ma’am, hardly anyone comes to visit the animals we have locked in here. The only frequent visitor we have is a local priest that comes to pray for the soon to be executed criminals.”, the guard replied as he scanned our IDs and double-checked the paperwork.
Taking his sweet time doing his job, Rei’s patience began to wear thin as time slowly passed. Having been looking forward to this day since hearing Toya was alive, she was angry that he was keeping her from her son. Sliding the papers back to us fifteen minutes later, he motioned for us to approach the Security Door and then buzzed us through once staff on the other side were ready.
Telling us to step forward one at a time, the officers began systematically patting us down and going through our pockets looking for any contraband. Glaring at a male officer that attempted to pat down Rei and Fuyumi, I asked that a female officer do it as I did not like him. Initially telling me no, I threatened to call several politicians that owed me favors to get them fired if they did not comply. Knowing which politicians I was referring to, one of the lieutenants ordered a female officer to do the pat down.
“Just so you know, threatening us like that will not make this any easier for you.”, the lieutenant told me.
“I will remember that when I speak with the Commissioner again.”, I retorted with a smirk.
Scowling at me for a moment, he turned away and left the room. Likely understanding that he had no power in this situation, the only options he had were to stand there and take it or just walk away. Once the women were checked, it was the men’s turn and Enji was none too happy about being touched by portly male officers.
“Is this really necessary!”, Enji grumbled nearly yelling as the male officer about touched his junk, “You do realize that I am Endeavor, right? Are you suggesting I would break my criminal son out of here?”
“It is the Warden’s Policy, no exceptions.”, the officer patting me down replied, “Believe me, we do not like having to touch you all over checking for contraband. Even All Might could not get in here without being patted down like you are now.”
“Wait, All Might is here?”, Shoto inquired as they completed our pat downs.
“Yeah, he arrived probably thirty minutes ago to see one of the inmates.”, Enji’s guard answered, “Think the kid he is seeing was All For One’s apprentice, not sure why he is visiting that scumbag. If the Warden had his way, we would have thrown him in the Pit and forgotten he ever existed. Unfortunately since All Might comes here frequently that is not an option.”
Knowing the reason behind the visit, as Shigaraki was his mentor’s grandson, it did not surprise me that All Might had not shared this information with anyone. Making us slowly walk through a Metal Detector and X-ray machine, they cleared us for entry once Shoto got through. Handing us Visitor Passes, we were taken to a Waiting Room and told to stay there till Dabi was moved to the Visitation Room. Leaving us alone after that, Rei and Fuyumi let out a stressful sigh. Leaning into me with a worried look, my wife began to second guess her decision to come here.
“Cole…I do not know if I can do this.”, Fuyumi whispered as she gripped my hand, “What if Toya despises all of us for not looking for him, or tells us we are dead to him? I…I do not think I can hear those words right now, I just want the elder brother I used to have back with us.”
“Everything will be okay dear, this is just your anxiety talking. While it is a possibility that he hates you, more than likely he only really hates your asshat of a father.”, I replied just loud enough so Enji could hear me, “Your mother, younger brothers, and you did absolutely nothing wrong to him. Sure he could argue that you could have tried to help, but Natsuo and you were just children. As for your mother, I am certain he does not hate your mother…especially after seeing the abuse your father gave her for not making a suitable heir for him.”
Glancing over at Enji, the anger in his eyes was clearly visible to me. Even though he wanted to refute everything I was saying, everyone in the room knew that it was the truth. No matter how badly he wanted to cover up what he had done, there was no hiding it from his family or me.
“Mrs. Todoroki, I do not think you need to be worried about Toya. From what I was able to gather, he has regularly been sending you flowers and chocolates. No matter how much disdain he holds for your husband, you always did your best to comfort and show your love for him.”, I told Rei, “There is no doubt in my mind that you are probably the biggest reason he agreed to see us.”
“Thank you, Cole, I had no idea they were coming from Toya.”, Rei admitted, “I thought they were attempts from Enji to bring me back home. If it was Toya sending flowers and small gifts, that means my husband is even worse of a man than I expected.”
“Why am I the one being attacked on all sides here!?”, Enji demanded.
“Because it is your fault Mom and Toya had mental breakdowns.”, Natsuo spat in anger, “Ever since we were born, none of us have ever been good enough for you. Mom has had to deal with that since before we were born, I cannot begin to imagine why she has stayed with you this long.”
It appeared that the Todoroki children were unaware of the circumstances behind their parent’s meeting. I was certain that if they knew their father had “purchased” their mother from her family, they would go ballistic on him. Unfortunately for Rei, if she divorced her husband, she had nowhere to go as her family disowned her after the marriage. Having served her purpose in getting them money, they no longer saw a need to be connected to her which had to of hurt her.
“I am glad you are here with me Cole, I do not think I could handle this alone.”, Fuyumi said as she leaned her head into my chest, “While I may be scared to find out how my brother feels about me, it is ten times easier with my husband here beside me.”
Kissing her on the forehead, I rubbed her shoulder and patiently watched the clock on the wall. Watching the seconds tick away slowly, we sat there for nearly thirty minutes waiting on them to retrieve us. When they finally came in the Captain who would be our supervisor froze up as Rei glared at him like an angry mother bear.
“My apologies for the delay…”, he gulped as he adjusted his collar, “We are ready for you now, please follow me.”
Stepping back out into the hallway, we were greeted by a contingent of thirteen guards who would be stationed in the room with us during the meeting. Even though Dabi’s Quirk was sealed by Anti-Quirk cuffs, they were taking no chances with him.
Entering the large, white room, we found a small table in the middle of the room with seven chairs around it. Asking us to take a seat so they could bring him in, once we were settled, the Captain radioed the guards to bring him in. Watching a large sliding door open opposite the way we came from, we saw Dabi appear with four guards around him.
“Move it scumbag!”, one of the guards shouted as he rammed his stun baton into Dabi’s back.
Wincing in pain as he began to move, I could see faint signs of recent injuries on him. Unsure if it was from fights with other inmates or from the guards, my current assumption was the guards given our interactions so far with them.
“Toya!!”, Rei shouted immediately recognizing her son, “My baby boy, I am so sorry!!”
Leaping out of her seat, Rei was unable to hold back her emotions as she ran toward him. For a brief moment, I saw an innocent smile form on his face as he looked on at his mother. Before she could get to him though, two of his guards got between them and pointed their batons at her. Demanding to know why she could not hug her son after all the checks we went through, they informed her that physical contact with inmates was forbidden by the Warden.
“What!?”, Rei gasped in horror, “I am not going to harm my eldest son!! Up until a few weeks ago, I thought he was dead!!”
“Warden’s Rules ma’am, we have some very dangerous people in here that might try to kill their visitors. The Warden has this rule in place to keep everyone here safe, both visitors and staff.”, one of them answered, “Please go back to your seat, or we will take him back to his cell.”
“Please do not do that!!”, Rei begged them, “I just want to hold my baby boy…can you not make an exception just this once?”
“Ma’am, please return to your seat or we will ban you from ever seeing your child again!”, the guard growled in anger, “You are acting like this is an innocent man, do you know how many lives this man has taken!?”
Seeing that we had reached an impasse, I created an illusion to fool the cameras and then incapacitated the guards with a Sleep Spell. No longer blocked from holding her son, Rei ran toward him and pulled him into a big hug.
“My baby boy, I am so sorry!!”, Rei cried as she held him tightly, “If only I had been stronger back then, maybe I could have saved you!! I am sorry you had to survive alone on the streets if I had known I-”
“It is okay Mom, I know.”, Toya answered as he hugged her back, “All the anger I had for you disappeared when I saw what Dad did to you. It should be me apologizing for not seeing the mental strain he placed on you for birthing incompetent children. When I saw you broken in the hospital…my anger for Enji only grew more intense.”
Staring at one another for a moment, Enji broke eye contact and hung his head in shame. Acknowledging that he had caused all of this, he could not face the son who thought he had killed that day. Turning to look at his siblings, Toya stopped when he saw me sitting next to Fuyumi. Seeing her holding my hand and wearing an engagement ring, he pieced together what was going on.
“So that is how it is…”, Toya said with disgust, “Are you after Enji’s fame and connections?”
“If I could legally cripple your Dad, I would do so in a heartbeat.”, I remarked with a smirk, “Your father is a piece of shit, no doubt about that in my mind. I am with your sister because she is an amazing woman with a big heart. You may not see it, but siblings really do miss you and are horrified this asshat drove you into this life. Please hate your father all you want, just give your siblings and mother another chance to show you they care.”
Looking at his siblings for a moment, Toya let out a sigh and told them he would give them a chance. Glaring at Enji, he told him to stand in the corner and not look at him as he made his skin crawl. Opening his mouth to speak, Natsuo and Fuyumi demanded he not utter a word and do as Toya asked. Seeing his face twitch for a moment, Enji got up and pulled his chair away to go sit in one of the corners of the room.
“Just so everyone is on the same page, the spells I used will wear off in three hours. Please keep that in mind so we can play it off like nothing happened here.”, I stated giving Toya a nod, “If you want, I am willing to step out as well for Fuyumi’s sake.”
“No, you can stay at the table. While I dislike you for helping arrest me, if you are going to marry Fuyumi, I want to make sure you will not abuse her as our sperm donor did with our mother.”, Toya remarked, “Besides…you helped buy me some time with my mother.”
Taking a seat at the table with us, Rei and Fuyumi immediately began catching him up on everything he had missed out on.
