A Todoroki's Tale: Expecting a Hero

Last Chapter: As Years Pass

"You all good here, Mom?"

I smiled as I looked up and touched Fuyuto's cheek as he looked down at me with my beloved Katsuki's eyes.

"Yes dear. I'll be here waiting."

He kissed my head as he glanced around and bit his lip. Practically the moment he looked up, he looked down and away from the stone.

"Go ahead, sweetie." 

"All...all right Mom." Fuyuto said quickly as he practically ran out.

"I'm sorry Katsuki-kun." I said as I looked up at his image and name engraved on the stone. "Even though he's a grown man with his own children, he finds it hard to see your name like this. Not to mention Shoto's."

I let out a deep, shaky sigh as I watched my wrinkly, careworn hand touch his name, and the words I had requested.

Always a hero, a symbol of victory. A hero to his country, to his people, to his friends, to his children, and to his wife. 

Always will be.

"I know you're not here, that you're in a better place, but still...not going to lie, Katsuki-kun. This old lady misses you. And your kids. Our kids." I laughed a little. "As you saw, Katsuhita made it to the top. Her and Toshi's youngest, along with Fuyuto's and Xena's, just got into U.A., not to mention the other grandkids. You left some pretty big shoes to fill."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. 

"I wonder if I'll wake up in another world again...you know. When I g—follow you. I worry about that, Katsuki. Because right now...I just want to be by your side again. Darn it." I smiled through my tears. "I...I hope and pray that whatever happens, you'll be there, waiting for me. Just like last time."

I looked up as snowflakes began to fall on my nose. 

"First onii-chan, then you, then Deku...why did you always have to fight to be first, you arrogant jerk?" I laughed again, wiping my tears as they came. "You beautiful, amazing, kind, loving jerk. Whatever happens...know I'll be waiting. And praying that somehow...I'll find you again."

*About 20 minutes later*

"Hey Mom? Mom, I got Yuki. Mom?" 

Fuyuto and his daughter froze as they saw the seemingly tiny figure silently huddled beneath his father's memorial.

"Crap!" Fuyuto ran up to the memorial as the snowfall blurred his vision, Yuki close on his tail. She looked a lot like her father, but it was a running joke that she was the perfect combination of her grandparents: she had Katsuki's eye shape with Hotaru's blue irises, her hair a light, faded yellow that complimented her grandmother's warm smile. 

"Mom? MOM!" Fuyuto touched the figure and pulled away her hood to see his mother's eyes were closed. He quickly pulled out his phone and called the hospital. 

Yuki was in shock, but before she could even let one tear go, she heard a soft peal of laughter, accompanied by the snap of a freezing tree and a faint, almost unrecognizable sound of an explosion above her. 

"Daddy?" She furiously tapped her father's shoulder as he hung up the phone. "Daddy!"

"Yuki, I'm trying—" 

She picked his head up and pointed it upward as the two figures in the snowfall began to fade.

"Dad...Mom?" Fuyuto's eyes filled with tears as he looked up at the faint outline of two teenagers as they laughed, holding hands as they embraced and leaned into a kiss.