Rain drizzled against the window panes of Musutafu General Hospital, a soft rhythm like a lullaby for the storm brewing inside. Thunder cracked once, distant and low, as if the heavens themselves were holding their breath. Inside a pristine, sterile room lit up in a white glow, Rei Todoroki lay on a hospital bed, her fingers curled tightly around the thin blanket draped across her lap. Her breath came shallow, uneven, and though she tried to steady herself, her chest ached with nervousness. The steady beep, beep of the monitor was meant to calm her, but instead, it just made her feel even more scared.
Three children.
The thought alone made her throat tighten. Triplets. Such a rare, rare occurrence. She had read about the risks, premature birth, and health conditions. It didn't matter that she was the wife of the No. 2 Hero, or that she was in one of the best hospitals in Japan. At this moment, she wasn't a hero's wife. She was just a woman about to become a mother three times over, terrified that something might go wrong.
Her hands drifted instinctively to her swollen belly, cradling its weight. "What if… what if they don't…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.
The doctor, noticing the tremor in her voice, stepped closer. His eyes softened behind his glasses as he adjusted the clipboard in his hands. He had seen it all before. "Mrs. Todoroki," he said gently, his voice calm and professional, "I won't lie, having triplets is quite rare, and yes, they carry risks. But you are not alone in this. We have the best medical team in Musutafu standing by, specialized equipment, and state of the art monitoring systems. You and your children are in the safest hands possible."
Rei swallowed hard, blinking back the sting of tears. "Even so… I've heard the odds-"
The doctor cut her off with a reassuring smile. "Please trust us. We have prepared and monitored everything. Every contraction you've had, every heartbeat we've monitored, it's all normal. Your body is stronger than you think. And as for your children…" He glanced at the monitors, where three distinct pulses beat steadily on the screen. "…they're fighters. All three of them."
Rei let out a shaky laugh. "Yes… of course."
"Good," The doctor said. "So don't carry this fear alone. Let us do our jobs, and you focus on one thing: bringing them into the world. We'll handle the rest."
Rei felt slightly better after the doctor's reassurance and let herself sink back into the pillows with a faint smile. Her fear didn't vanish, but it did lessen. She closed her eyes briefly, whispering to the lives inside her belly.
"Please… come to me safely."
—
Rei was drenched in sweat and tears. Her white hair clung to her face, her expression twisted with pain and exhaustion.
Two newborns already rested peacefully in nearby bassinets, swaddled in soft, sterile cloth. One had snow-white hair and skin like porcelain. The second bore half-crimson, half-white hair, a perfect split. Their tiny chests rose and fell gently.
It was already an extraordinary night, triplets were a rare phenomenon in any case, even more so without the aid of fertility treatments. The odds were astronomical, almost one in ten thousand, and for all three to survive birth without complications was considered a miracle in the medical world. Nurses and doctors whispered amongst themselves in awe; it wasn't every day that nature defied the rules so boldly. But what made this case truly unique wasn't just the number of children, it was who they were being born to.
"Push, Mrs. Todoroki! You're almost there!" the doctor urged, urgency cracking through the calm tension.
Rei cried out, her voice sharp, hoarse. an echo of desperation and strength. Her knuckles turned white as she clutched the bed rails. Another push, another scream, and then, silence.
A cry did not follow. What was meant to be a happy occasion suddenly turned grim.
The doctor froze. The baby in his gloved hands was unnaturally still. The color had drained from the infant's body, turning it an unsettling Grayish-blue. Limp. Cold. Too quiet.
"Congratulations—" the doctor began, but his words fell flat as he stared at the newborn, visibly unsettled.
"What's wrong?" a deep, thunderous voice boomed from the corner of the room.
Towering over everyone like a war god, Enji Todoroki, better known to the world as Endeavor, the No. 2 Pro Hero, stood still as stone. His fiery beard and sharp turquoise eyes burned with authority. But at that moment, there was something else in his eyes. Dread.
The room should have been filled with crying. With life. But it wasn't.
Rei's chest heaved as the last scream left her throat, her body slumping back against the sweat-soaked sheets. Her vision swam. The bright overhead lights blurred into halos, and the world slowed, like everything was sinking underwater.
Then came a sound no mother wanted to hear after labor.
Nothing.
No cries. No breath. Just silence.
"Why… why isn't he crying…?" Rei rasped weakly, her head tilting toward the doctor at the foot of the bed.
The doctor didn't answer.
The nurses weren't moving.
The final child lay motionless in the doctor's gloved hands, his small body pale and eerily limp. His little chest didn't rise, and his skin held a blue tinge, as though life had been stripped from him before it even began. The umbilical cord was already cut, but he remained quiet… too quiet.
"D-Doctor…?" Rei's voice cracked.
The doctor's hands trembled as he examined the infant, trying desperately to detect a heartbeat. But nothing came. The monitor near the delivery table remained static.
"Rei." Endeavor whispered in a quiet but firm voice.
Her tear-filled eyes met his. He wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the child, his expression unreadable. The burning fire of his beard had dimmed to a faint ember.
The doctor looked up with a pale face. "Your son…He's… I'm so sorry. He's not-"
"Don't." Endeavor stepped forward, snatching the baby from the doctor's hands before the sentence could finish. His hands, usually weapons of fire and fury, now held the infant like he was made of ash. So fragile, one wrong move might scatter him to the wind.
Rei turned away, burying her face in her hands. She had felt her child. Kicking. Alive. And now… this.
Endeavor's eyes scanned the baby's face, searching for something that could tell him this wasn't the end. That this wasn't another failure, another scar carved into a family already falling apart at the seams.
The baby's hair was a mess of soft red, tinged faintly with darker red at the roots.
'He looks like me…'
He held the child close, pressing his forehead gently to the baby's as if to pass something onto him.
The weight of the haunting silence settled over everyone. One nurse turned away, wiping tears from her eyes. Another stood frozen in the corner, wishing they could do more.
Then, something strange happened.
The flames around Endeavor's beard flickered again. They began to spiral downward, drawn toward the child in his arms. It was a subtle pull at first like a light breeze. Then more embers flickered toward the baby's lips. As the fire entered him, the baby's chest twitched. A tiny cough escaped his lips. Then another.
And then, he screamed. A piercing wail filled the room.
Endeavor's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the infant, now radiating a light warmth. His pale skin flushed with life, cheeks turning a vibrant pink. His body twitched with newfound strength, and eyes blinked open, revealing brilliant Gray irises.
Rei gasped, tears flowing freely as she reached for the baby again. She took him into her embrace, sobbing and laughing in disbelief.
"He's alive… oh my God, he's alive!"
—
Natsu couldn't move. He felt like he was paralyzed. Surrounded by darkness and sensation that was rare to him.
Cold.
He hated it. He didn't know where he was. It felt like just earlier, he was fighting for his life. He had won, but everything went black after. What happened to his friends, were they safe?.
Natsu tried to move, to sit up, to speak. Yet his body wouldn't react the way he wanted it to. His limbs wouldn't work, his mouth wouldn't open, and worst of all he couldn't feel any heat. No flow of magic. No power. Nothing but an awful cold pressure.
'Where… where the hell am I?'
He felt colder and colder, like all the heat was slowly escaping.
'Damn it, no no no not again!!'
Suddenly, he felt like he was being moved. Someone was carrying him.
Everything was still dark but the air started feeling a bit different. Faint heat brushed past his cheek like a whisper.
Then it hit him.
'Fire. There's fire nearby!'
He didn't just recognize the fire, he craved it. Not with hunger, but with something deeper. Desperate. If he didn't take this chance to consume it, he would definitely die.
Instinct kicked in. And he took it.
He didn't know how. He didn't care. His body responded before thought could form, and he engorged himself in the flame. Heat flooded his tiny chest. His heart jumped. That cold sensation was gone.
Thump.
Then again.
Thump-thump.
He could breathe.
He sucked in a lungful of air, and with it came a scream full of life.
"WAAHHHHH!"
His eyes opened. Light slammed into him. Everything felt too bright, but he didn't care.
He was alive.
He was Natsu Dragneel.
He didn't know where the hell he was, or how this happened, but one thing was for damn sure:
He was all fired up!
—
Endeavor backed away slightly, still staring, stunned. One second, his son was dead and now the color returned to his face and he started crying.
"What just happened!!" He asked, still reeling from shock.
The doctor approached with trembling steps. "This… this is remarkable. I think… I think your son just awakened his Quirk at birth."
"At birth?" Endeavor asked, his voice low, wary. "What kind of Quirk feeds off my flames?"
"We'll need to run some tests, but from what I saw, he doesn't control fire…" The doctor's voice dropped to a whisper. "He consumes it. It sustains him."
He passed the child over to Rei, who stared wide eyed, but stopped trembling.
Rei looked up from the infant, cradling him like a precious flame. "He was born starving… and the only thing that could feed him was fire?"
"This is a rare mutation," the doctor said. "Possibly a one-of-a-kind hybrid. It might not even be from your family lines. Sometimes quirks evolve from something else."
Endeavor narrowed his eyes. 'No one in my family ever consumed fire. Controlled it, sure. But this… This is different. "Is this a mutation?"
The doctor glanced at the other two newborns, still peacefully sleeping. "Three children." He looked towards the child with the pristine white hair.
There were no traces of red hair on his head. Endeavor glanced at him, thinking nothing of the child as he immediately knew he did not possess a fire quirk like himself. However, that changed the moment the child opened his eyes, revealing the same turquoise eyes as him. Endeavor felt a glimmer of hope in this child, thinking he might possess the potential to rival or surpass himself but averted his gaze back to Shoto, the one he was absolutely certain of.
"This one likely inherited your wife's quirk." Endeavor simply nodded. If he likely has the Ice quirk, then… 'It's better not to think about that now.'
He looked at Shoto next.
The doctor cointnued. "This one is unique, he may have aspects of both your quirk. Of course, we won't completely know until their quirks awaken."
However, Endeavor finally felt hope. He knew this child was the one. The one that would be able to complete his dream.
And the last one who lives off flame itself. I've never seen anything like this." Endeavor looked at him. Do I just continue feeding him fire?
"What are you going to name them?" the doctor asked softly.
Endeavor approached the bassinets, eyes scanning his sons. First, he pointed to the infant with wild red hair, now squirming in Rei's arms, occasionally letting out sparks from his fingertips. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Yakuto," he said. "The youngest."
He turned to the boy with snow-white hair, serene and quiet, even in slumber. "Haise."
Then finally, his gaze settled on the child with crimson and white hair. The perfect blend of mother and father. His eyes gleamed. "And Shoto. The eldest."
As he stood there, watching the three of them, Endeavor felt something stirring deep within his chest as he looked at Shoto.
Outside, the rain finally stopped.
—
The front door creaked open as Endeavor stepped inside first, carefully cradling Shoto in his arms. Behind him, Rei followed in a wheelchair, swaddling the other two newborns against her chest. Gray nestled calmly on one side, Natsu lightly squirming on the other, a faint warmth rising from his blanket.
The air in the Todoroki home shifted immediately. Fuyumi let out a delighted gasp and rushed over, practically bouncing as she peeked at the tiny faces. "They're here! Look at them!"
Natsuo grinned as he leaned over Rei's shoulder.
Rei gave a soft chuckle, tired but warm, and nodded as the children leaned in close. "Come meet your little brothers," she said gently, shifting the blankets so their faces could peek through.
"This one," she nodded toward the baby Endeavor held, "is Shoto. He's the oldest of the three."
Endeavor lowered the child just enough for the siblings to see, his usual stern face was unreadable but he held the infant with surprising care.
Rei tilted her head, letting the white-haired baby nestled on her right rest more visibly. "This is Haise. He's like a little snowflake."
"And this one," she said, a tiny laugh in her throat as Natsu squirmed and cried against her collarbone, "This little firebug is Yakuto. He gave us a bit of a scare, but he's fine.
Fuyumi's eyes sparkled as she hovered beside Rei, hands twitching with excitement. "Can I hold one?" she asked, voice hushed like she was afraid to startle the little bundle of warmth in her mother's arms. Rei smiled, tired but soft, and carefully shifted Haise toward her daughter. Fuyumi's breath hitched as the tiny baby settled into her arms, so light it felt like holding a snowflake. "He's so perfect," she whispered.
Natsuo leaned in from behind, trying not to sound too eager. "What about this little guy?" he nodded toward Natsu, whose little fists were flexing in his sleep, steam curling faintly from between his lips. She gently passed Natsu into Natsuo's waiting arms. The boy blinked in surprise as the baby's warmth radiated up through the blanket.
"Whoa. He's like a little heater," Natsuo grinned. "He's gonna be wild, I can already tell."
From across the room, Toya scoffed, but even he leaned closer, unable to tear his eyes away.
—
Several Months Later...
The Todoroki household had adjusted to the chaos of having triplets. The once quiet halls now echoed with the soft patter of crawling and the occasional wails. Even Toya, though still distant, had softened just a little around the edges.
Shoto was calm, reserved, and always staring with wide, curious eyes. Haise, beautiful and quiet as ever, had a dreamy way about him, often found giggling at nothing or trying to mimic snowflakes from the windowsill. But Natsu… Natsu was already a handful.
He growled when he didn't get fed fast enough. Tried to wrestle with the other two in baby babble. And his body ran hot, literally.
But nothing could've prepared the family for the first time they caught him eating fire.
It started during dinner. Endeavor, exhausted and barely in his civilian clothes, had ignited a small flame at his fingertips to light the stove. Rei had turned her back for just a second to wipe Haise's mouth and that's when it happened.
It happened in a flash.
Rei turned around to see Natsu seated in his highchair, cheeks puffed out with a proud look on his face. He had leaned halfway out of his seat just to suck the flame straight off Endeavor's hand.
"Wha—?!"
"HE ATE IT!" Natsuo shouted, nearly dropping his fork.
Fuyumi screamed. "DID HE JUST-"
Endeavor froze, mouth parted. "He absorbed my fire again?"
Rei rushed over, heart pounding, expecting burns or a cry. But Natsu just giggled, a tiny flame flickering at the corner of his mouth before he burped and then hiccupped a puff of steam.
Fuyumi blinked, wide-eyed. "Yakuto… eats fire."
"He likes it," Natsuo added in disbelief. "Look at him! He looks like he just had dessert."
Sure enough, Natsu kicked his legs happily, clapping his chubby hands like it was the best thing in the world.
From that day on, the fireproof pacifier became a staple. And it became a running joke between Fuyumi and Natsuo to "keep matches away from the baby."
Unfortunately, Rei realized something even more concerning. Natsu needed fire often.
It started on a quiet morning when Rei was preparing breakfast. She'd left Natsu in his crib, cooing softly, while she took care of the other two. When she returned, though, her heart dropped.
Natsu's face was pale. His little body was limp and his normally warm skin was cool to the touch. His breathing was shallow, like he was struggling to stay awake. He had gone without his usual burst of flame for just a few hours—and it showed.
"Yakuto?" Rei gasped, hurrying to pick him up, her hands trembling. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"
Endeavor, hearing the panic in her voice, rushed over. His eyes narrowed in concern as he reached for Natsu. "What happened?"
Rei's voice shook as she spoke. He's pale and limp. I didn't think it was this serious."
Endeavor turned to the firestone on the counter, igniting a small flame at the tip of his finger. He held it out to Natsu, who, weakly but instinctively, reached toward it with open hands. As soon as he made contact with the flame, his body seemed to come alive. His skin regained its color. His breathing steadied. And, with a satisfied little sound, he even began to giggle.
Rei watched in awe. "He... he really needs it."
Endeavor sighed, his face softening as he carefully cradled Natsu in his arms. "Yeah. We can't let him go too long without it. He's not like other kids.
Rei held Haise and Shoto close to her, feeling the overwhelming weight of this new reality. "He can't go without it, can he?"
"No," Endeavor replied, his voice firm. "Not without consequences. This is something we'll need to keep track of. I don't want to risk something like this again. I'll arrange something."
The realization hit hard, and it was clear that Natsu's care would require constant attention.
In the days that followed, Rei kept a small lighter with her at all times, safely tucked into her pocket or the folds of her apron, just in case. Whenever Natsu showed signs of becoming pale or sluggish, she would immediately ignite a tiny flame, allowing him to absorb it before he went limp.
Rei wasn't the only one who noticed the unusual need. The household staff was informed, and a quiet warning was given to all who worked in the Todoroki household. They were told not to be alarmed if they saw the youngest Todoroki child consuming fire. It wasn't unusual for Natsu, it was just... necessary.
One afternoon, after a long, taxing day, Rei had left Natsu in his crib to rest while she prepared dinner. When she returned, she was stunned to find Toya standing near the crib, staring down at the baby.
Rei paused at the door, her eyes narrowing. "Toya?"
Toya's eyes flicked to hers, guilt flashing briefly before he sighed. "I- he needed it."
Rei's heart skipped. "What do you mean? Did you… use your quirk?"
Toya looked down at Natsu, his face unreadable. "I didn't know what else to do. He was… pale. His skin was so cold. He looked like he was—"
"He needs it," Rei interrupted softly, her voice a mix of relief and concern. "But you need to be careful. Don't use your quirk too much"
Toya stared down intently, clenching his fist in anger.
Rei hugged Toya gently. "It's great that you wanted to help your brother, but you need to be careful."
And after a few months, that's what they did. They got used to it. Natsu's consumption of fire became a regular part of life. Fuyumi and Natsuo would often joke about it, teasing Natsu that he was "part flame," but it quickly died when they saw that Natsu's small body would go limp and cold without his regular feeding. They became much more attentive after that.
The family eventually settled into this rhythm of their odd reality. It wasn't normal, but it was theirs.