26/06/2021
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The Emperor's Dragon
Nestling 55
"Please, give it back."
It was times like this that All For One almost wished his hearing had been damaged. Instead he ignored the begging and activated his new quirk. Immediately the world opened around him. He looked around, silently marvelling at the details and the differences. Even with quirks, humans were reliant on their sight. He had been adapting to the darkness, but he much preferred being able to see.
It wasn't the same as normal vision but it was infinitely better than the darkness. He could see the outline of various objects in the room. He turned his features to the woman who was begging. Gigantomachia was holding her and they were both outlined in light, almost like a heat haze. He could see features on them though, enough to determine who was who beyond the sheer size difference.
"Thank you, my dear," he told her. It wasn't often that people remained conscious through him extracting their quirk, not unless he was very careful, but it did happen.
"Give it back," she gasped.
"Sensei will use it better than you," Tomura told the woman.
She didn't appear to hear him and didn't shift her gaze.
"Tomura," All For One said the teen's name softly. It was an instruction.
The grey haired teen looked at him. Hisashi met his gaze with his new quirk and nodded.
Tomura grinned and then reached out. Gigantomachia knew what to do, and he held the woman out.
"I'd usually offer you some form of compensation," All For One told the woman. "But I'm afraid at the moment, secrecy must take precedence. I will, however, assure you that this won't hurt for long."
She was paying attention to him and with his new quirk, Hisashi could see her eyes move. "What?"
By then it was too late. Tomura was there and he gently lay his hand on her arm.
The woman stiffened and then she screamed as the skin on her arm flaked and then disintegrated. The disintegration moved up her arm. She continued screaming before the dust moved into her chest and that, thankfully, shut her up. Her eyes continued to scream and her mouth worked until the dust claimed her face. Then, there was a puff, like a hydraulic releasing before with a whisper of sound what was left of her collapsed.
"You are getting faster, Tomura," All For One noted.
The teen grinned. "I should have grabbed her upper arm."
A tilt of his head relayed his question.
"She would have shut up quicker," the grey haired teen told him.
Hisashi nodded.
"Is her quirk good?" Tomura asked.
"It is remarkably serviceable," All For One confirmed.
Tomura was silent for a few moments. "You shouldn't need it," he hissed.
There was nothing Hisashi could say to that. He hadn't expected the current holder of One For All to be that strong but now that he knew… He knew what he had to do.
"I'll kill him!" Tomura growled.
Hisashi gave the teen a smile. "You must do what you think is best," he told him.
"I'll kill him! I want him dead! He shouldn't have done that to you."
"Then I will assist you," All For One said. "I will always assist you, Tomura," he reassured the teen.
He'd intended Tomura and Izuku to be his lieutenants but there had always been movement in his plans. Now the two of them would be more public. He always worked in the shadows but the original plan had been for the two boys to be his support. People would know they were connected to him in the shadowy way that people knew he existed. Now, people would assume that they were the ones making the decisions. And in so far as was possible, they would be making the decisions but with his guidance. It was a subtle difference but an important one.
"You have done well," he continued.
The unexpected praise cut through the teen's muttering. "Working with Izuku," All For One explained, "to fetch that quirk."
"It didn't work," Tomura said, looking anywhere but at him.
"It did," Hisashi objected. He'd gone over this with Garaki and he expected he'd have to go over it with Izuku as well. Tomura was practice. "The Doctor assures me that without the quirk, I would still be unconscious."
The grey haired teen thought about that for a few moments. "Why did you let it happen?" Tomura demanded.
That was a delicate question. He hadn't exactly let anything happen. As galling as it was to admit the current holder of One For All was stronger than expected. He would deal with that. He could have already dealt with the buffoon. Poison would work on the Number One hero but that would not give him the opportunity to get his brother's quirk back. And that was a good reason to tell the teen.
"All Might has something I want," Hisashi said softly.
"What?"
All For One sighed. He'd never explained his history to Tomura. "Do you know what All Might's quirk is called?" he asked.
He saw Nana Shimura's grandson consider it. Izuku would probably have been able to tell him immediately that the Number One Hero never answered questions about his quirk. "No," Tomura growled finally, obviously losing patience.
"His quirk is named One For All."
Tomura was intelligent. He saw the connection but he didn't know what the connection was. Not exactly.
"Once upon a time, there were two brothers," Hisashi said. "They were born when quirks weren't even called quirks. The elder had a quirk, and the younger one didn't." He explained.
His words got the teen's attention and Tomura looked at him as he spoke.
"The younger was also sickly and so was often left at home to fend for himself. The elder was a leader of men. He led those with power and those with vision. He fought against those who would kill those with power, those who didn't realise that the power of a quirk was the future but he loved his brother. He was doing it for his brother, so that there was a place for everyone in the world. And because his brother was weak, and needed strength, he gave his brother a quirk."
"One For All," Tomura made the connection.
"No," All For One corrected. "The quirk was a stockpiling quirk. It allowed the user to stockpile strength. It was meant to give the younger brother strength, to heal him. It was meant to help him."
"Unbeknownst to them all though, the younger brother did have a quirk. The younger brother's quirk allowed him to transfer his own quirk to someone else. The elder continued to fight until one day, he faced his brother across the field."
Hisashi didn't say anything further. He didn't need to. He knew what happened and he didn't need to remember again.
"So…" Tomura drew the word out.
"All Might has my brother's quirk. I want it back," Hisashi told him. It was an explanation as to why he couldn't just kill the Number One Hero. Of course, it didn't explain why he hadn't done more to capture the man.
"I'm still going to kill him," Tomura growled.
Hisashi nodded. "It will be easier to do if you continue to work with Izuku," he indicated.
"Tch," the teen rolled his eyes. "You baby him."
"He is only nine."
"At least he doesn't want to be a hero anymore," the grey haired teen told him.
"Izuku will continue to improve, as will you. But you are both still too young to take centre stage."
"I don't need him."
Hisashi levelled his now sightless gaze at the teen. "Izuku will seldom be in your party, and when he is, it will be for support," he reminded Tomura of what he had told the boy soon after Izuku had come to live with him. "That hasn't changed Tomura. I still need both of you."
"He had some good ideas," Tomura said softly. It definitely sounded like he didn't want to admit that.
All For One didn't smile. "Give him time," he instead urged, nodding slightly at the teen. That was all he could say. He'd learned long ago that if he pointed out that Tomura hadn't been better at that age, then he'd only get ignored.
"It is time to go, Tomura Shigaraki," Kurogiri interrupted before Tomura could reply.
Hisashi nodded and Kurogiri expanded into a portal. Tomura looked at him and then went through the misty man. All For One released the vision quirk he'd just taken, actually enjoying the darkness that surrounded him. Tomura was at a difficult age. He still hated heroes but Hisash was wise enough to realise that his injuries would make the boy doubt. At the moment, that doubt was covered with anger but it could change.
If it did and Tomura turned against him, well… he would handle that. And if Tomura drowned in rage and attacked someone… Again, he would deal with that.
He pushed the boy from his mind and timed his breathing with the ventilator to take several considered breaths as he shifted his thoughts, and made new plans. Options were always good to have but Tomura was not someone who dominated his thoughts. Instead, his mind lingered on his son, and on the path forward.
But the path forward started with knowledge of the past. Now that he was recovering, he had to find out how All Might had found him. He knew he'd injured the Number One Hero but the news hadn't said anything about him dying, so he too, was most likely recovering. Even so, Hisashi was not in any shape to hold off a Hero raid. No matter how many he killed, there were always more. "Gigantomachia," Hisashi called.
"My Lord?"
"Bring Izuku to me," he ordered.
He didn't need to activate the quirk to know that the huge man wasn't entirely pleased with the order. Gigantomachia didn't want to leave him alone but at least he recognised that he was in a secure environment. "Yes, My Lord."
He heard the giant leave and a few moments later, there was a happy squeal. "Daddy!"
All For One smiled brightly and activated the sight quirk. "Little Dragon."
Izuku ran up to him but then paused.
"You just have to be careful," Hisashi told his son, opening his arms. He saw Izuku nod and then felt his son carefully climb into his lap. He gave Izuku a hug, twisting slightly so that he could feel Izuku's curls.
It was a bit of a shock when Izuku began crying. He didn't cry softly either. It was great, heaving sobs.
"Little Dragon?" Hisashi asked his son. Usually he knew what Izuku was crying about but this time he had no idea.
There was a series of sniffles and deep breaths. "I was so scared!" Izuku eventually wailed.
Ah, that made sense. "So was I," Hisashi sort of whispered into Izuku's hair. He hadn't been scared. He'd been unconscious but it was probably better for his son to figure that out on his own.
"You were?" Izuku didn't try to escape his embrace but All For One could tell he was surprised.
"I was afraid I wouldn't see you again," he explained. That caused his son to hug him harder and he continued sobbing. Hisashi felt like he was getting a bath but he was prepared to indulge Izuku. "You did well, you know, Little Dragon," he said eventually.
Izuku sniffed. "How?" he managed to ask.
"The quirk," All For One told his son. "Without it, I would still be unconscious."
"But…" Izuku shifted and to Hisashi's new quirk, he could see the way his son was looking directly at him. It was different from Tomura who kept trying to look away. Izuku was prepared to see what had happened.
"The Doctor explained it to you," Hisashi reminded him. That got him a small nod, and Izuku's chin dug into his stomach. "He wasn't lying, my Little Dragon. I did need that quirk."
"But it didn't work!" Izuku managed to get his objection out.
"It worked well enough," All For One assured his son.
"It should have been perfect!"
So that was it. "Quirks have limitations," he explained. "Each quirk has a draw back that you have to understand."
Unbeknownst to All For One, he had just confirmed in his son's mind that quirks could not be relied upon. "Will you give it back?" Izuku asked.
His Little Dragon didn't know Tomura had taken care of the woman. "Of course I will," Hisashi told his son. "When I am fully better. I will give the quirk back and some more compensation."
Izuku smiled at him. "Thank you Daddy, I couldn't explain it to her. There was no opportunity."
"I know you only wanted the best and while it wasn't perfect, it might be fixable."
Izuku gasped. "How?"
All For One leaned down slightly, as if to brush his now non existent nose against Izuku's. "The Doctor told you that healing quirks are registered with the government," he stated but got a nod from Izuku. "And that they are used on heroes who work for the Hero Public Safety Commission?"
Another nod.
"Well, I have government contacts," Hisashi said conspiratorially to his son.
He couldn't see Izuku's green eyes exactly but he knew that they widened as his son worked through the implications. He heard his breath catch. "Doctor Garaki couldn't use them," he told his son. He suspected he couldn't use them either. Healing quirks were good but he didn't think they were that good. Maybe in a few more generations but not now. But it would give Izuku hope, and he sensed his son needed that.
"How?"
"How, what, my Little Dragon?"
"How do you have Government contacts?"
That was a question that made sense. Everything Izuku had heard to date was about how the Government wasn't good. "Those I help sometimes go into Government," he explained. They went into Government because that was the price of a quirk and he made sure they succeeded. "And then they help me out when they can," he added. "But My Little Dragon, do you remember what I told you previously?" Hisashi asked.
He needed to speak to his government contacts anyway. They would be able to tell him how the Number One Hero had found him and what other fallout there had been from the battle. He had watched the news but there were definitely things not being said, and while he was good at filling in the blanks, there was such a thing as too much silence. But he was aware that there was a possibility that someone had betrayed him.
All For One watched Izuku with his new quirk. He could see that his son's brow was furrowed as he thought.
"There's no bad quirks?"
He chuckled at the response. "Not that. Think about what I told you soon after you first went to school," he prompted.
Izuku kept thinking but it was a message that All For One was sure his son knew so much that he didn't even think about it. "Family-" he prompted.
"Oh!" Izuku exclaimed. "Family you can trust. Family will not betray you," he recited with a remarkable show of memory.
Hisashi was honestly surprised, but pleased that his son remembered, though if his child was remembering everything so perfectly that might cause some issues, depending on his morals. Those were about to be tested, so it was a thought for another day. "Very good. So now, apply that thought to my government contacts," he instructed.
His son gasped. All For One could hear the outrage in the sound. "There will be consequences if they do," he assured Izuku. "I want you here when I call them," he added.
"Why?"
"Because there are things you can't learn in school and you are old enough to start learning them."
"Like Tomura?"
It was a reasonable inference. "A little bit and you will continue your self defense lessons with Kurogiri but I will be teaching you other things."
Izuku frowned at that. All For One didn't see it as much as feel it. "Does that mean I'm not going back to school?" He asked.
Hisashi wasn't sure if his son was disappointed or happy about that. "You will go back to school," he decided. There were valuable lessons to be learned there but one of the reasons for talking to his contacts was to ensure that Izuku hadn't been found. "But you will also have lessons with me."
Izuku didn't say anything at that. Instead, All For One felt his son's arms tighten around him as he trembled. Hisashi raised one hand, and laid it on Izuku's head, stroking his hair. He deactivated the sight quirk and sat there, enjoying the presence of his son.
It was okay for now. Just for a while.
-ted-
I think that might be the first time AFO has actually fully lied to Izuku. The rest of it has been inference, omission or highlighting facts that support you while dismissing others. But if Izuku works out that the woman is dead, AFO will probably tell him that he didn't know that Tomura had killed her and that he's chastised Tomura for it. Then he'd probably tell Tomura to work on his acting and pretend to be sorry. For a day or so. But for the moment, Izuku is reassured that the nice lady will get her quirk back.
Ha!
-ted-
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