This is a story about Endeavor's past and what he did in the Manga so far. So in many ways it's a retelling of the Manga.

Hope you enjoy! And please review :D

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Beta-Read by Lionheart261

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Enji's Endeavor

A Sisyphusian Task

„All Might! All Might! All Might!"

He could already hear the crowds from afar as he rushed closer to the noise. The flames were bright and thick clouds of ash and smoke fogged the sky above his head as he came ever closer to the scene of the catastrophe.

Phoenix knew the stink of ash and burned flesh well enough, but this made even his eyes sting and tear up.

When he finally arrived on the scene, the hero used his elbows to push through the onlookers to get a clear view. There were dozens of civilians staying to watch a spectacle despite the smoke in the air, still cheering that name. "All Might! All Might!"

When Phoenix finally shoved through the last of the gawking masses, he was surprised to find a handful of heroes watching and cheering just as stunned and just as much in awe as the common civilians. The sight alone made the young hero halt for a moment. Shouldn't they rush in and help?

But it seemed the burning buildings were too damaged for most of the heroes to even dare get close to them. There was a high risk of collapse and the slightest misstep could tip the feeble balance, crushing everyone still inside the burning building complex. It was … truly horrible.

Phoenix wanted to do something. His quirk might not be the best for saving people, 'Rescue' was still the discipline in school he had the most trouble with, after all, but that's what they were heroes for, right? To … at least do something. And, after all, he had a fire quirk, so he should be able to help.

He was about to rush to the building, to get in there, find somebody who needed his help, be a hero, when somebody grabbed his arm and dragged him back. "Take care of the civilians!" A tall hero with graying hair demanded. "Make sure they don't come any closer."

"But …," the younger hero looked back to the burning ruins, "shouldn't we help them?"

"Your quirk would only make it worse. You have no control over flames that aren't your own, yet, Phoenix." Phoenix just grit his teeth in anger, but of course the older hero was right. Phoenix might just lose control and make the situation even worse. His quirk was hard to keep in check. "There's already somebody inside."

Phoenix just stared for a moment, as the cheers of "All Might! All Might!" surged again, louder than ever, for a moment drowning out whatever else the older hero was trying to say. And then, a silhouette appeared from charred ruins and smoking ash. A tall and muscular blond hero in a red, white and blue costume.

Phoenix thought he knew him from a recent news report, but he wouldn't have remembered that by himself. However, the shouts of "All Might! All Might!" gave away the hero's name, even if Phoenix didn't know him yet. He couldn't be that much older than Phoenix himself, he thought – just a young adult. He emerged from the ruins carrying half a dozen people or more to safety.

Phoenix didn't complain. Instead, he followed the older hero's command and tried to calm some of the civilians. There was a mother crying, screaming and trying to rush back into the building to save a child. Phoenix didn't catch the name and there was no calming her anyway, so all he could do was hold onto her wrist for dear life until All Might emerged again to thunderous applause, rescuing among others the small daughter of the mother Phoenix still held in a strong grip.

It was the last group of survivors All Might saved before the rest of the heroes could finally set upon their job to quench the fire and tear down the remainder of the building as carefully as possible. The big blond hero gave an interview a bit away from the scene, all smiles and calm reassurance. Phoenix just stared at him.

Phoenix hadn't done anything. Nothing at all. Sure, his guardian hero hadn't allowed for Phoenix to actually do something, but still … even if he would have been allowed, there was nothing he could have done. And he was supposed to be one of the strongest in his year.

The hero Phoenix was only a first year of UA's hero class, but he had made a name for himself after he won second place during the UA sports festival that year. Well ... so people said. For him, he had just lost the gold medal. You didn't win second place. Being Second, meant you had lost to someone. And Phoenix had lost. Badly.

Still, he'd left enough of an impression that agencies all over Japan competed for the right to draft him for an internship. Second place or not … he was one of the brightest talents of his year. Still, he hadn't been able to do anything.

The hero called Phoenix, a name he had chosen specifically for this internship, had been put on crowd control instead of fighting or saving. Not that there had been much fighting to begin with, but it bugged him, nonetheless.

On the other hand, while it had been just a failure for Phoenix, a stark reminder that he was still weak, for All Might it had been his grand entrance. The former UA graduate had come back home after working as a sidekick for an American hero agency, bursting on the stage with a show of power, might and calm reassurance. With a showing such as this and other heroic acts soon to follow, the people would soon love him, calling him the unofficial Number One Hero long before the Japanese Billboard Charts had caught up to the fact.

"Did you meet him, Enji?" asked one of his fellow classmates when they met again after their internships. "You were on one of those news reports in the background. You were there!" Sajin was one of the people in class Enji got along with. They weren't exactly friends, per se, but Enji could tolerate him. Enji wasn't quick to make friends over all, so it came as no surprise that he didn't really have any. "Did you meet All Might? Bet he's like, super cool!"

Enji might have to reconsider his opinion, he thought, his irritation visible. If he kept fanboying over this All Might guy any longer, Enji Todoroki was going to lose it. Not that he couldn't understand it. He'd seen All Might in action after all, but still … it was annoying. Even more so, it seemed like nobody could ever stop talking about the man.

"Who cares?" said Enji shrugging in faked nonchalance. "I'll beat him anyway."

And he would. He had promised to be the strongest eventually. The Number One Hero! All Might's appearance didn't change that. That pseudo-American show-off would just raise the bar a little.

"Yeah, right," a girl laughed at his comment. "Forget it! You're powerful, alright, but have you seen the man?" The girl pointed at him. "You would never stand a chance."

Enji grit his teeth angrily at being mocked, but there wasn't much he could say to discredit her. He knew himself that he couldn't hold a candle to All Might's ... well, might at this point in time. Only time, he assumed, could prove that girl wrong.

His quirk was pretty damn powerful. It wasn't like fire quirks were particularly rare, but to have such powerful flames as he did was uncommon. It didn't come without risks, though. Overexerting himself, or just fighting a bit longer than he was used to, would banish him to the infirmary with trembling limbs, head aches and fever symptoms, sometimes for days. It got better the more he trained, though. His classmates, however didn't know the precise details of this weakness, so for them, he was simply one of the, if not the, most powerful students in their year. They might not necessarily like him – what with all his impatience, temper, aggressive tendencies, and often insulting behavior – but they did hold a great deal of respect for him.

As such, he wasn't used to being laughed at. Sometimes they mocked him for his temper, sure. But to be straight up told that he wasn't strong enough, couldn't do or ever reach something … that was a new one for him. It made him angry. Especially when more of his peers joined in, straight up mocking his goals.

"Yeah, no way!"

"Defeat All Might? He's supposed to be the next Number One. Bet he'll already reach the position next time the Billboard Charts come out. Nobody ever made it straight to number one before, I think. You'll never beat him, man!"

"You're an idiot for even trying!"

"You'll see!" Enji promised. "I'll defeat him, surpass him and become the Number One! I swear it!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"And I'll do it all by myself!"

If they didn't want to believe in him, just as well. He didn't work well with others anyway. Weaker comrades just got in your way – dead weight. Useless. Enji worked best when there was no ally in the vicinity that he had to try and avoid with his flames. He wasn't that good with pinpoint control yet, though that surely would change with time.

"Anyway, isn't it cool that you were on the news, Todoroki?" Sajin asked, finally trying to steer the conversation away from All Might. Enji only grunted at that. He didn't particularly care if he was on the news if it hadn't been for something he'd achieved through his own effort. As it was, he just happened to have been there when a camera moved around to get a better view on All Might.

"I think someone even wrote your name in the caption of the picture. Phoenix … Still don't understand why you went with that name, to be honest." His friend kept talking.

"Don't you know?" Somebody else jeered with a mocking tone to his voice. "Todoroki thought it was a good name for the future Number One." There was snide laughter "The teachers thought 'Red Devil' was too much of a villain name." Enji had nothing to say at his defense. It was true after all. "As if it makes a difference how worthy a name is to be number one. It's not the name that makes the hero. It needs more than destructive strength to be the greatest." His classmate mocked. He pointed at All Might's picture in the newspaper. "That's a proper number one. You, with all your aggressive temper … you're really just a villain in waiting."

"Shut up!" bellowed Enji. "You don't know shit about me, asshole! I'd never become a fucking villain. I'll beat everybody!"

"What? You? The Phoenix who can't fly? Never mind regenerate." His classmate laughed. "Get a fitting hero name first. This one is just misleading."

Enji blushed angrily.

"Eh, Todoroki, don't listen to that idiot." Sajin tried to console him, but Enji hardly listened. He didn't care for consolation. There was only one way to prove this fool wrong, after all. So, he stomped away to train, not giving either of his classmates a second thought.

They had chosen their provisional hero names before the internship had started. Enji Todoroki had named his quirk 'Hellfire' when he had been a bit younger. He still liked that name. Some thought it sounded evil, but Enji thought a quirk that sounded intimidating was a good thing. So, when asked for a hero name, the first names he came up with were all related to the name of his quirk. However, his teachers had expressed their concern, that any variation of Devil, Demon, Satan or Hell in his name might put off the public and only serve to reinforce the 'villainy vibes' he supposedly had anyway. They straight up forbade him to choose those names. So, he went with Phoenix.

True, he couldn't fly, or heal, or come back from the dead, but it was a creature born of fire, and it sounded cool, so he figured it worked. He'd thought 'The Fire Hero: Phoenix' would have been a great name for the future Number One Hero.

How his classmates received it proved to Enji that it might not have been the best choice, but he went with it anyway. He didn't know what else to change it to, and slowly, as time progressed, the hero Phoenix would make a name for himself. Once he started to establish his brand it was considered unwise to change his name again, so he left it as it was.

The Fire Hero Phoenix would slowly but surely win fame and recognition. Over three years and many internships he gained fame and respect, and soon Enji Todoroki was a third year of UA's hero class. People started calling him the 'Closest thing to Number One.' No matter how hard he trained, though, that was all he'd ever be called. All he'd ever be, according to most. The Number One Hero of his time was, as predicted, All Might, who had over the course of the last two years firmly established himself as not just the greatest hero, but as a hero completely in his own league, removed from everybody else. Enji Todoroki would never surpass him. Never even come close. All he'd ever achieve – or so everybody would tell him – was to get just a bit closer to him compared to everybody else.

Slowly, childish banter would turn to actual mockery and ridicule. His classmates, his peers, even his teachers, while they somewhat admired his tenacity, were increasingly amused at the fact that he was so utterly unaware of how impossible his goal was. It was like watching Sisyphus role his giant rock up a mountain, seeing it tumble back down and trying again and again and again.

He knew, that's how they looked at him. In mockery. In pity. In utter disbelief at his sheer stubbornness. He knew it, but he didn't care.

"I don't get it," one of his classmates would ask. "I mean, sure, I understand you want to be strong, but … you already are strong! Stronger than all of us! Than anyone! But All Might? Even you should see there's just no point in trying."

"Have you even seen that man fight, recently?" they'd ask. "He's basically a god."

"Besides, he's the Symbol of Peace. He's a role model not just for heroes, but for society as a whole. His very existence has seen crime rates and villain attacks decrease dramatically." That would always be the last argument they'd try, when everything else just fell upon deaf ears. "Even if you did end up stronger than him...you could never play that role as well as he can."

Maybe they were right. But damned if he wasn't going to try anyway.

"Typical Enji," some of them would follow up with, "focuses on taking down the greatest hero, instead of villains. He's always been a bit of a villain, really."

He never knew whether they meant it or not. Whether they actually thought, he'd turn into a villain one day. Did they really think he'd scoop so low? All his life, all he'd wanted was to be a hero. The greatest hero of all.

"I will surpass All Might, and I will be The Number One Hero!" It was a promise to himself he'd kept since that fateful day, Enji didn't remember when surpassing All Might had become a paramount and essential part of achieving his goal. When he had set out to becoming a hero, all he had ever cared about was to become the greatest, The Number One Hero. It had never actually entailed surpassing one specific person, just the need to be stronger than everybody else. Now, however, surpassing All Might – this god among men – had become a major part of his dream.

He would surpass All Might. It was the only way he could ever hope to become the greatest hero.

"Surpassing All Might?" one of the sidekicks in the hero agency he worked for asked loudly, laughing. "Yeah, right. You really mean that? Damn it, kid. You're just wasting your energy. There's no way! And for what? To bring down the symbol of peace? It's really such a pointless and futile endeavor."

All their comments would only make him more determined, would fuel his tenacity.

He graduated at age 18. The graduates were asked to fill out a registration formula for their hero licenses. On it, the second thing they asked after the graduate's birth name was their hero name. He was fairly certain that most, if not all, of his peers would just fill in the name they had chosen during their studies. Some had changed their name halfway through the first two years on UA, but mostly, these names had remained constant, and with these names through internships, work experience and different projects, the up and coming heroes had already established their brands.

The hero called Phoenix was no exception. Phoenix was the hero who was supposed to be the closest thing to the Number One. Phoenix was the one the newspapers had talked so much about. Changing his name was a risk. So much so that he hadn't actually entertained the thought for all of three years by now. However, now was his last chance to decide differently.

And he was no Phoenix. Working under that alias for almost three years had proven that to him. It might be a fitting name for the strongest of all, but he knew he couldn't call himself that. Not yet, anyway.

He knew choosing a different name would come with a risk. He'd give away the 'Phoenix'-brand, start again at square one. Then again, it had never been his goal or intention to be recognized as merely the 'Closest thing to Number One', so it wasn't like he'd really lose anything important.

It was an easy choice, really. He was no Phoenix after all. But if he was no Phoenix, what was he?

The future Number One? The man who would surpass All Might? The greatest hero of all …

"What a pointless and futile endeavor," he heard them say. Mocking him, pitying him, trying to make him give up or at least move the goalpost, make him see reason.

Maybe they were right. Maybe it was a pointless and futile endeavor. But it was his endeavor.

And so, he knew. This was who he was. He would surpass All Might and become The Number One Hero. He would fulfill this goal, and if he couldn't, if it turned out to be impossible, he'd just try harder. He'd never give up trying. He'd chase after that man until he'd either finally caught up or burned himself out, no matter how impossible it seemed.

He would surpass All Might and he would become the Number One, the greatest hero. That was his endeavor.

And that was who he was: The Flame Hero, Endeavor.