22/06/2021

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The Emperor's Dragon
Nestling 54

The next time Hisashi awoke, he could feel rage bubbling in his mind. How dare that buffoon injure him? The drugs were receding and he could feel the way the skin on his head was pulled taunt. He wanted to touch the flesh but he could feel a variety of needles in his arm. He did not wish to dislodge them. Plus the ventilator was still hissing and if the damage had been that bad, he wasn't sure how the Doctor would have hooked it up.

The room was silent, save for the hiss of the ventilator, the beep of the heart monitor and Gigantomachia's breathing. Beyond that there was silence.

All For One reached out with a quirk to confirm it. He could feel several life forms but recognised them as Garaki's experiments. Kurogiri was nowhere close, but neither was Tomura so that was acceptable. He felt Izuku though, reasonably close and to his senses his son had too many quirks.

Garaki had some explaining to do. The man had indicated that they had gotten a regeneration quirk but surely they hadn't had Izuku grab every quirk he'd come into contact with? No… There had to be another reason.

Hisashi timed his breathing with the ventilator, willing himself to take a deep breath. He needed to think. He needed to work through his emotions.

Most would say he was a passionate man but he seldom acted on passion alone. He hadn't survived this long by being ruled by emotion. He controlled them, even if they were negative. Even if he didn't like them and he had a feeling once he knew the extent of his injuries he would be very, very angry and emotional.

He thought about what Kyudai had said. Head injury. Extensive brain damage. Skull and brain destroyed with several lobes gone. And that was a summary. Hisashi thought about what he knew. Even with a limited understanding of biology, he knew he shouldn't have woken up.

It was not in his nature to be overly positive but he suspected that waking up was something he should be positive about, regardless of his situation now. He tried to feel his body. Hisashi knew from experience that it wasn't as easy as simply thinking about it. He'd seen often enough with others that phantom limbs were a thing. He tried wriggling his toes. He felt the sheet against them so that was good. He formed both hands into fists, and again, felt the sheets. So he had all his limbs.

So the damage was, as the Doctor said, to his head. He tried again to open his eyes, and once more the skin stretched but there was no movement. He tried to twitch his nose but could feel nothing. With the face mask, he should have felt that.

Hisashi swallowed and once again he saw the powered fist coming at him.

He knew what damage that would do.

He tried to take a deep breath again, this time going against the ventilator, which caused him to cough. The lack of pain from his body was reassuring but he couldn't feel his hair. Head injury. All For One could foresee scarring. Probably extensive scarring.

What did that change?

Nothing.

He still wanted his Brother's quirk back. He still wanted society to bow before him.

But his injuries might change his ability to work on that. He would have to find out exactly how bad the damage was. The fact that he was still on a ventilator, even after having a regeneration quirk told him it was bad. And the fact he couldn't open his eyes…

The Doctor would have told him if there was tape over them, or if he'd had to close them. That meant the damage there was harsher.

So, he was blind. And he had probably lost his sense of smell, Hisashi realised. He hadn't smelt the antiseptic. He'd tasted it. So two senses down. Smell wasn't that big a deal. He didn't rely on that. Sight was more problematic.

But there were other ways to see. There were quirks that allowed one to see in the dark, and some of them did not actually rely on having functional eyeballs. He'd seen people use them with their eyes closed. And there were radar quirks, ultraviolet quirks… there were other ways to see. He'd have to get one, or a few.

Hisashi pushed the damage he'd suffered out of his mind. He would discover that when he could and it didn't change his desires. It just changed how he went about them. He felt his lips move.

He had felt his son earlier. Tomura was no doubt with Kurogiri. He'd been raising them to be his lieutenants but perhaps they would have to step up. He would still control the overall goal but in time, they would become the new faces, the new front men. The world might even believe they'd taken over from him. That wasn't much of a shift.

Hisashi nodded. He could accept that. If there was no way to heal. The Doctor would no doubt have done his best. Gigantomachia would have seen to that but with him now conscious, there were other options.

If things couldn't change with his injuries, then there were still options, and if things could change, then nothing had changed.

-ted-

Hisashi tracked the Doctor's movements with his hearing. He'd woken up to find the Doctor present. The man hadn't noticed that he was awake.

"Gah!"

He'd noticed now.

"Hisashi, please don't do that," Kyudai muttered.

"My hearing has not been damaged," All For One managed to say. His voice was still dry and weak but the statement was enough.

"Directionally, you will have issues," the Doctor countered. "Your outer ear was destroyed, and while I believe the middle and inner ear have regenerated, the outer ear has not been regenerated."

"I can hear well enough," Hisashi said. He'd already thought about what had happened, and while there were options, he sensed he had to get stronger first. "Why does Izuku have that many quirks?" he got the question out, ignoring how his mouth was dry.

The Doctor didn't answer. Instead, Hisashi heard him come closer and there was a rustle of plastic before the temperature changed. "We've got a shroud over you," came the explanation but it did not answer his question.

Kyudai made sure to put his hand on Hisashi's forearm and All For One heard the slosh of water. "For your throat," Garaki indicated.

"Izuku," Hisashi reminded the man of the question. He pushed aside his displeasure at being waited upon. In a restaurant, he didn't mind. In this situation… He did not like to be reminded of weakness.

The Doctor sighed and Hisashi knew the man was weighing up what to tell him. He thought he'd broken the Doctor of that habit.

"When we brought you back, we weren't sure if you were alive. With the damage, your body was breathing but I didn't know if your mind was still there. We had Izuku check if your quirks were present. And they were."

Hisashi remained silent as he took in the explanation. It made some sense but it did not tell him why Izuku had too many quirks.

"One time Izuku checked, he got too close, and you pushed the quirks into him," the Doctor finished. "It was an unconscious action on your part, and Izuku is adapting."

"How long?" Hisashi asked. How long had it been since he'd done that to Izuku? How long had it been since his fight with his brother's current successor? He hadn't asked because as an immortal, time was simply something that was.

"That was three days ago."

"Bring Izuku here," he instructed. He would sort out what quirks his son had and take back those Izuku didn't need. "Also search the quirk registries. I'm going to need something to assist with sight."

"Gigantomachia, could you bring Izuku?" the Doctor asked.

Hisashi felt a flash of amusement. Kyudai had no doubt learned the hard way that he couldn't order the giant if Gigantomachia thought it was against his primary orders. Even so, he heard his bodyguard move. "I will bring the Little Lord."

"Thanks to the regeneration quirk, you shouldn't need much rehabilitation," Garaki told him.

"Who found it?" Hisashi asked.

They had been attempting to get regeneration into Kyudai's creations and they had searched Quirk registries for them.

"Izuku did actually," the Doctor told him. "He went with Tomura to collect it."

"He is compromised?" All For One demanded.

"No, Kurogiri made sure of that."

That was something. "If I am still injured, it does not seem to be a good regeneration quirk."

"It's a very good quirk. The problem is that it took your injuries as a template," the Doctor explained.

Hisashi wasn't sure what to say to that and he was saved from having to when he heard Gigantomachia return. Izuku was quiet.

"He's unconscious," Kyudai told him.

"Bring him here," Hisashi instructed, vaguely waving one hand. It felt heavy. That wasn't something he'd encountered often before but in his life, All For One had been sick. Not often, but he had lived through chemical attacks and various pandemics. He'd survived them all but he knew what it took to recover. The heaviness of his limbs told him he would have to spend time recovering now.

Gigantomachia came forward and after a moment, Hisashi felt Izuku's curls. He just let his fingers run through them for a little while. They were soft. It was nice. Then he reached out with All For One. He felt Izuku's quirk. As always, it seemed to glare at him but it was hard to feel it, given it was surrounded by other quirks. Hisashi gently tugged at them, identifying the quirks that he'd apparently put into his son.

He could just take them all back but instead of that, he tried to think of what quirks Izuku might need, which would compliment those he already had.

Hmm… he would need to copy some quirks. The more useful ones. He took back several, which he would have to make sure Izuku could get back. Shock Absorption was definitely one he should have given to Izuku a while back. He left his son with a few 'change' quirks. They would be useful for Izuku to hide his true form. Maybe not now, while he's nine, but later. All For One always planned for the long term.

He pulled back several quirks from his son and then reached out to take the others. Even injured, he was trying to be gentle since this was Izuku. Hisashi settled each quirk back into his body but at the last few he encountered resistance. There was a mental hiss. The glare from Izuku's quirk seemed to intensify. All For One looked at its progeny. The quirk seemed to glower back. And while Hisashi didn't exactly 'see' with All For One, it appeared as if Izuku's quirk was now crouching over two of the quirks that he wanted to take back. It was ignoring the small change quirks Hisashi had left. It was very clear that the quirk was saying 'mine'.

Mentally All For One snorted with amusement and then backed off from those quirks. They weren't major quirks but they did fit the dragon theme he had been developing for Izuku. Poison Fang would give Izuku a weapon and Night Cat would allow him to see in the dark, while splitting his pupils like a cat. If Hisashi was honest with himself, that quirk was useless to him now, so it wasn't a concern to leave it with his son.

Hisashi nodded and ruffled his son's hair. "Leave him here," All For One said to Gigantomachia, trusting the large man to be gentle with his son. A weight was placed in the bed beside him and he heard his bodyguard move away. Hisashi shifted slightly, placing one hand on his son's shoulder. His pyjama's felt warm. "I have most of the quirks," he told Gigantomachia and Kyudai.

"Not all?" Garaki asked.

"Izuku's quirk wanted to keep some."

He could imagine the way Kyudai would look at that. Quirks weren't sentient but if you knew enough about them, then it became clear that they weren't just passive either. Izuku's quirk came from All For One, it was no surprise that it craved other quirks for its master.

Hisashi leaned back. He felt tired but he pushed through it. He was awake now, and so it was time to head to recovery, and to adjusting his plans. The first thing there was to accelerate some of his plans. He always planned for his son to have more quirks than just those related to his dragon theme and now was the time to ensure he had them. And… regeneration would be good for the prototypes. He turned his head to where he thought the Doctor was.

"I need you to start the process."

All For One couldn't see but he imagined he knew the way the Garaki would have stiffened. "Are you sure?" The question was oddly soft.

"I am sure," Hisashi replied as firmly as he could.

"How many?"

Internally All For One began counting. Three for regeneration. Three for shock absorption. Three for increased strength. "At least ten," he said finally. "For this round."

"Ten?" There was no need for him to imagine the way Garaki was shocked.

"I will endure," Hisashi reassured him.

The Doctor was silent. Hisashi knew why. The process was a procedure he'd developed to copy quirks. In theory it was simple. Garaki grew human cell cultures, and when they were large enough, Hisashi gave the culture a quirk. They were human cells, so they could carry a quirk. They weren't alive. It was just flesh. Then the culture was split and grown further. The quirk was thus duplicated. Hisashi took back the quirk and then transferred the second one to a prototype. The original plan had called for the cell culture to be incorporated into the prototype. That had happened once. It would not happen again.

In theory, there was no pain to Hisashi. In practice, each time a quirk was copied, it was agony. After all, Kyudai used his cells for it. And somehow, he could feel it. Distance didn't make a difference. He could feel the abnormality and the pain didn't end until the culture was destroyed. And then he felt like he'd lost a limb for the next week. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

But Izuku needed those quirks. And so did the prototypes. And he did as well. Therefore there needed to be three copies of them. And Hisashi knew there would be more quirks later that had to be copied. But for now, giving Izuku regeneration, shock absorption and increased strength would be a good base.

The prototype would also benefit. And he knew from experience that he was going to be a while recovering. If he was going to go through the discomfort of the process, he might as well do it at a time when he wasn't going to be as productive as normal anyway.

"I'll get started," Kyudai agreed. He knew better than to argue but Hisashi thought he would want to see the results as well.

"Find me someone with a non-eye based sight quirk first," All For One gave the instruction.

"I'm already searching the registry," Garaki informed him.

"Good," Hisashi said, before he lay back. He kept his hand on Izuku's shoulder, taking comfort from the warmth of his son beside him.

He was injured. He was weakened.

But he was not dead.

That's all that mattered. He would work with this. Society would know his wrath. It would just be a little less direct and All For One had long ago realised that the outcome was important, not the means.

His injuries were a setback. But they were not the end.

-ted-

Well, Hisashi is awake and while it might seem like he has gone straight to acceptance of his injuries, I promise you, he hasn't. He's just trying to be rational. At least, he's trying to be rational while he's confined to bed rest.

Given his thoughts about what the Doctor could have been up to while he was unconscious, I'd say that AFO knows Garaki very well. Always think the worst, does seem to be the mantra.

Originally for the quirk copying process I had it named some long translation of 'Quirk Copying' but I didn't really like it, so I've just gone with the process for now.

-ted-

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